Your License Plate Might Be Funding an Anti-LGBTQ Extremist Group
An Uncloseted Media and LOOKOUT investigation has found that more than $7 million of funds for specialty license plates have been funneled to groups notorious for their anti-LGBTQ policies.
This story was done in partnership with LOOKOUT, a nonprofit newsroom focused on accountability journalism for the Southwest’s queer community. Subscribe to their newsletter here.
A LOOKOUT and Uncloseted Media investigation has found that millions of dollars from various state motor vehicle departments are being funneled into far-right groups that use that money to lobby lawmakers and fund litigation that defeat equity measures for millions of people across the country, including for women, people of color and, more specifically, LGBTQ people. And it’s all being done through what’s on the back of people’s cars.
In a nationwide sampling of state specialty license plate financial data since 2020, more than $7 million has gone to groups that have helped champion anti-LGBTQ legislation, funded litigation that struck down conversion therapy bans, and promoted Christian nationalist values that have direct ties to nationally recognized anti-queer groups.
The findings of the newsrooms include:
Many specialty state license plates fund organizations that have indirect ties to extremist groups, although Uncloseted Media and LOOKOUT’s investigation found that four states give money to Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate groups, including the American Family Association (AFA) and members of the Family Policy Alliance. Those states are: Arizona, Montana, Florida and Mississippi.
Since 2019, Arizona’s “In God We Trust” license plate has given more than $1.4 million to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The group is most well known for supporting legislation that bans trans youth from gender-affirming care and access to gender-aligned bathrooms and youth sports, and for recently winning their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down Colorado’s conversion therapy ban.
A majority of states in the U.S. have a specialty license plate that has brought in tens of millions of dollars for the Choose Life movement, a Christian conservative anti-abortion campaign that has been supported by ADF.
To be clear, specialty license plates are different from popular “vanity” license plates. Those license plates—celebrating status as a “RCKDRMR” or boasting being “2KEWL4U”—have specific rules that prevent duplication or offensive terms. (Though there have been arguments over what is considered “offensive.”)
But every state also has a series of specialty license plates that are used as fundraisers for special causes or groups: California has license plates for coastal protection access and firefighters; New York has a plate for Lupus Awareness and Autism Awareness.
For these plates, fees paid to the state are redirected to organizations that have applied to have the license plate made and met the qualifications.
In Arizona, for example, groups that want to create a specialty license plate must get a lawmaker to sponsor legislation establishing the license plate into the state register, raise $32,000 for setup fees and have the design approved by the state Motor Vehicle Division. Not every group achieves that goal. If they’re successful—and with the governor’s signature—$17 of every plate purchase goes to the organization.
A similar process exists in Montana, where any qualifying nonprofit can launch a plate with a $4,000 deposit, and there are few mechanisms to revoke it beyond low circulation or failure to meet broad “public welfare” criteria.
But in states across the nation, that apolitical process is now a cash-grab for anti-LGBTQ groups.
In Montana, for example, the Montana Family Foundation earns $25 from each “In God We Trust” specialty license plate—raising more than $400,000 since 2019—while advancing laws that define sex as binary, restrict gender-affirming care for minors and limit trans people’s access to restrooms.
Down in Florida, two specialty license plates have given over $450,000 to Florida Family Voice, a group that publicly supports the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
And in Mississippi, the AFA—which operates media outlets like American Family Radio and American Family News, formerly known as OneNewsNow, and has a long record of promoting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric—launched a specialty plate that nets the group $24 per plate and has already generated more than $8,000 since rolling out this year.
But politicians have taken notice: In Arizona, for example, Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill recently that would have allowed a state license plate’s funds to go to Turning Point USA. She argued that license plates “should remain nonpartisan.”
But there’s the rub: License plates have been funding partisan political projects for more than a decade.
A National Campaign
It’s unclear where the first “In God We Trust” specialty plate appeared. What is known is that the version in Arizona has been arguably the most successful. Between 2012 and 2019, ADF’s “In God We Trust” license plate flew under the radar and only came under scrutiny in 2019 when an Arizona Department of Transportation spokesperson said the organization had collected $827,000 in five years.
Originally approved in 2008, ADF started gathering money through the license plate when it was officially rolled out in 2012. But the idea gained popularity in 2016 under the banner of the Project Blitz campaign, a national coalition of Christian organizations that aimed to get “In God We Trust” on as many public surfaces as possible, including cars, claiming it was the national motto for the country.
The campaign continued. In 2017, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation—one of the main organizations behind Project Blitz—had proposed model legislation that would have continued the success of ADF’s campaign by pursuing a “National Motto Display Act” that would display “In God We Trust,” in public buildings and on license plates across the U.S.
The caucus has also proposed model legislation that banned gender-affirming care for all transgender Americans as far back as 2016. It also promoted legislation that favored heterosexual relationships and marriages.
According to the secular group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, ADF has aligned itself with Project Blitz and has filed amicus briefs alongside the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation in religious freedom cases.
ADF has been using Arizona as its home base for its conservative Christian, anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ positions since it was founded in 1994. The organization was created by 35 Christians, including Alan Sears, who co-authored the 2003 book “The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today.”
The nonprofit has drafted gender-affirming care bans across the country and helped write Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which limits classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Since 2019, Arizona’s open records website shows ADF has received $1.4 million in disbursements from specialty plates.
LOOKOUT and Uncloseted Media reached out through email to ADF seeking clarification on how much money they’ve brought in total with their specialty plates, and how they’ve used that money. They did not respond.
“This is money that was, and continues to be, used to weaponize religion against vulnerable people,” Nick Fish, the president of American Atheists, told LOOKOUT and Uncloseted Media.
State Sen. Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) sponsored a bill to remove the plate in 2019. The bill died in committee.
In Montana, Florida and Mississippi We Trust
The strategy itself is not new.
The anti-abortion group Choose Life, Inc. first introduced their specialty license plates in Florida in 1998. Today, “Choose Life” plates are available in 33 states and Washington, D.C., often marketed as supporting adoption while directing funds to anti-abortion organizations, including affiliates of Choose Life America Inc. and the Family Policy Alliance, a coalition of conservative Christian organizations in 39 states that opposes marriage equality, transgender rights, sex consent education and bans on conversion therapy.
As of 2019, Choose Life America, Inc. reported raising $28 million nationwide. And—with the help of ADF—they have fought for their ability to have plates in multiple states, including Arizona, New York and New Jersey. ADF also defended North Carolina’s plate from a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union.
And while states have been slow—or altogether unconcerned—in stopping political groups’ maneuverings using specialty license plate funds to pay for lobbying or lawsuits, groups have accelerated their push into the cash cow for their own political gains.
In similar fashion to ADF, the Montana Family Foundation is collecting $25 for every license plate sold that features a waving flag and an image of the Liberty Bell with the phrase “In God We Trust.”
Since the organization launched in 2002, they have helped pass or promote state laws that define sex as binary; that criminalize gender-affirming care to anyone under 16 years old; and that ban trans people from their gender-aligned restrooms. The organization is allied with the Family Policy Alliance.
Since Montana Family Foundation began making money from the license plates in 2019, they have raised over $400,000.
Montana has a much simpler process for introducing new specialty plates than Arizona: Any 501(c)(3) can submit an application to the Department of Justice’s Motor Vehicles Division along with a $4,120 deposit and fees. So long as they meet a small list of requirements, including that “the primary purpose of the organization … is service to the community through specific programs that promote improving public health, education, or general welfare,” they will likely be approved. Currently, state law only allows for existing plates to be revoked if they either violate these requirements or drop below 400 total plates in circulation.
In Mississippi, meanwhile, all standard license plates previously read “In God We Trust.” But that changed in 2023 after a lawsuit brought by American Atheists. In response, the AFA last year launched a new specialty plate bearing the slogan, which gives them $24 per purchase.
The AFA owns and operates conservative media organizations which frequently promote anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and misinformation. In a 2015 article, their vice president declared that “homosexuality is a sin” and that “the LGBTQ agenda imposes sexual anarchy.” And in 2019, they published an article about “the inescapable link between homosexuality and pedophilia.”
Already, the group has gained over $8,000 in plate sales in less than five months of receipts, according to publicly available data.
Florida has two license plates that fund Florida Family Voice (FFV)—a state-level affiliate of the Family Policy Alliance.
According to the group’s website, proceeds from the state’s “In God We Trust” and “America the Beautiful” specialty plates fund scholarships for young people to participate in Patriot Academy, a right-wing educational program that aims to “train citizens to understand and influence government policy with a Biblical worldview.” FFV has also hosted a summit in collaboration with Project 2025 authors The Heritage Foundation on “empowering parents to protect children” from “transgender ideology,” and they were strong supporters of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The funds for the two plates—more than $3.8 million combined—go to the In God We Trust Foundation and America The Beautiful Fund, both nonprofits led by Christian activist couple Martin C. and Janet Boire. Since 2017, the two groups have together donated over $453,000 to FFV, as well as $154,000 to TPUSA, according to their tax filings.
The newsrooms reached out to the Family Policy Alliance, Montana Family Foundation and American Family Association on questions about their anti-LGBTQ work and the money brought in from their specialty plates. They did not respond.
Other States
LOOKOUT and Uncloseted Media also identified license plates in other states that fund groups that tangentially support anti-LGBTQ advocacy.
In Alabama, a specialty license plate emblazoned with the “Don’t Tread on Me,” or Gadsden Flag, donates more than $40 of its proceeds to the Foundation for Moral Law, a Christian conservative nonprofit that advocates against marriage equality. They’ve also filed amicus briefs supporting several ADF cases, including the one that overturned Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, as well as others pushing for states to out LGBTQ kids to their parents and grant foster care licenses to couples who refuse to accept trans identities.
The group was founded by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from his position for violating the Supreme Court’s legalization of gay marriage and later fell into political irrelevancy after several women and girls accused him of sexual assault or harassment.
Uncloseted Media and LOOKOUT were unable to identify contact information for Roy Moore, but reached out to his wife, Foundation for Moral Law president Kayla Moore, via email, and received no response.
Like Montana, specialty plates in Alabama are approved by a simple application process, though they notably claim that they do not consider applications from “political organizations.”
The Christian Home School Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP), a state affiliate of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), also has a specialty plate. Co-founded by former ADF CEO Michael Farris, HSLDA advocates for Christian home schooling and has fought for the parental right to spank children with an instrument. CHAP’s website states that they oppose gay marriage and gay sex.
Advocacy groups aren’t the only ones raking in funds. Virginia also sells license plates that fund Liberty University, a private evangelical college with strong connections to the anti-LGBTQ right.
Students at the college are required to agree to a code of conduct called The Liberty Way, which bans “statements and behaviors that are associated with LGBT states of mind,” including holding hands with a person of the same gender or using pronouns different from those assigned at birth.
The university has especially strong ties with Liberty Counsel, the Christian legal group that petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage last year.
A Legal Precedent
States have taken racist license plates off the road in the past.
In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas could refuse a request by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to release a specialty license plate in the state featuring the Confederate battle flag.
The ruling allowed Maryland and Virginia to rescind and recall similar Confederate flag plates in their own states, creating a legal precedent for the removal of plates that didn’t align with state values.
“Public funds should promote the public good,” said R.G. Cravens, senior research analyst with the SPLC. “As budgets tighten everywhere, states should prioritize support for inclusive civil society and democratic institutions, not subsidizing anti-LGBTQ+ extremists.”
And not everyone who is deeply religious or conservative is on board. One Arizona woman, Roxanne Grona, who describes herself as a conservative Christian, said she wouldn’t want to give money to groups that use religion as a cudgel to do harm against queer people:
“I had an incident with a great-grandchild that has chosen a different way of life than I would have chosen,” she said. “In no way, if I bought an ‘In God We Trust’ license plate, would I want any money to do anything to harm that child or anyone else’s child.”
Additional data reporting by Joseph Darius Jaafari.
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