Texas board rejects Confederate license plates

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A Texas board has decided the state won't issue specialty Confederate license plates...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas board has decided the state won’t issue specialty Confederate license plates.

All nine members of the Department of Motor Vehicles board voted against the proposed plates Thursday.

The board was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, who’s seeking the GOP presidential nomination and has previously defended the historical value of Confederacy symbols. But when asked about the proposed plates last month, Perry said “we don’t need to be opening old wounds.”

The NAACP and other groups have opposed the battle flag as a racist relic.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans sponsored the proposal and members had threatened file a lawsuit if Texas rejected the plate design.

Similar plates have been approved in nine other states, including three in which the group successfully sued.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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