DC adds 'Pride Lives Here' vanity license plates to decades-old one calling for statehood

Washington D.C. now offers motorists two additional specialty license plates – "We Demand Statehood” and "Pride Lives Here."

The new Pride plate marks the 50th anniversary of Pride celebrations in D.C. WorldPride 2025, which will occur in the District from May 17 to June 8. The tag features the rainbow ribbon and the words "Pride Lives Here."

The announcement about the plates come at about the same time new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cancelled so-called "identity months," including Pride Month in June and Black History Month in February.

The statehood license plate follows the long-standing "Taxation Without Representation" tag, spotlighting District residents paying federal taxes but having no member of Congress who can cast a final vote on legislation. 

The plate was introduced at about the same time as Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's non-voting House member, and Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen reintroduced a bill earlier this month to make D.C. the 51st state. 

“Congress has a moral obligation and the constitutional authority to pass this bill,” Holmes wrote in the statement. "This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed, but D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live.”

The statehood tag announcement also comes the same week Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, Republicans, introduced legislation to overturn the District's "home rule," which dates back to the 1970s and gives the District some autonomy including allowing residents to elect a mayor and city council, and give full control back to Congress," according to the Daily Caller.

D.C. DMV also offers other specialty vehicle tags, such as the "Anacostia River Commemorative," "Breast Cancer Awareness," "D.C. Veteran," "D.C. Woman Veteran," "Disabled American Veteran (DAV)," "Washington Capitals," "Washington Mystics," "Washington Wizards," "Veterans Specialty" and "Vision Zero Bycicle Awareness."