SHTHPNS: The Never-Ending Free Speech Fight Over Vanity License Plates
One of the most contested spaces in American discourse is on the back of cars
Whenever Paula Perry looked at the license plate on her car, SHTHPNS, she felt soothed.
By July 1997, the 46-year-old state administrator for Vermont lost her father, endured four painful back surgeries, and divorced her first husband. “‘Shit happens’ means that bad things happen to good people,” she told me. “You just have to pick up your feet and can’t let anybody get you down.”
The phrase came to her when she was renewing the registration for her Ford pickup truck. It was Perry’s first vanity plate. One month later, though, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles revoked her plate, saying it had been issued in error because it might be offensive or confusing to the public. “It was a symbol of encouragement,” she says. “And they took that away for no reason.”
This time, Perry wasn’t going to accept that shit just happens. She hired a lawyer and sued the DMV, alleging it violated the First Amendment. “People should be able to have freedom of speech. There’s nothing wrong with this plate. It was something I really believed in.”
