'SEX DOC' Wins! Dr. George Turner Has Victory Over License Plate Battle with Missouri Appeals Court: Makes Case That Sexual Health is a Human Right.

Dr. Turner picks up his plates

August 08, 2014

Initial Application Feb 2013

Kansas City social worker, marriage therapist and sexuality expert, Dr. George Turner, recently won his 1.5 year battle with the State of Missouri over his license plate, SEX DOC. “This became about more than celebrating my PhD in sexual health with a personalized license plate”, shared Turner. “I found it repugnant that a small governmental group was imposing their sex negative views without any justification or guidelines. It was clear to me that they saw sexuality as something bad, embarrassing or dirty. As a sexual health advocate, this was not the community standard that I could endorse. This is about reclaiming the dialogue from one of sexual shame to sexual literacy. Simply put this is a social justice issue for me,” shared Turner.

A state appeals court said Turner, a certified sex therapist in Kansas City, is entitled to his personalized license plate as part of marketing his business as a psychotherapist. “Putting SEX DOC out there is a way to help people start a conversation. Too often others are trying to silence conversations on sexuality. My patients suffer from this shaming and I don’t think the state of Missouri has any place it perpetuating this kind of psychological harm. It is my intent to destigmatize problems related to sexual health,” shared Turner.
 

The Administrative Hearing Commission rejected Turner’s petition in February 2013, claiming that the word “sex” was “obscene and patently offensive”. After several failed attempts by phone and letter to receive justification from the Commission for this decision, Turner, argued his case in Jefferson City last January. Turner was shocked to learn that the Commission has no guidelines to make these decisions, but unilaterally rejects all applications with the word ‘sex’.

Turner stated, “Sex negativity can often be used to fuel oppression of groups. I work to eliminate the toxic messages and repressive policies that ban positive sexuality education and knowledge to the shadows. Silencing sexuality creates an environment ripe for sexism and sexual misuse. You need to look no further to find the impact of this than in our own community”. Turner cited examples like the KC juror, Laura Trickle, (2013) fined for breast feeding her child or how rape culture perpetuates victim blaming similar to the case of Maryville youth, Daisy Coleman (2013).  “Sexuality is a human right and access to comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate, sexuality information is key to sexual health. My goal is to move our culture beyond the sexual dysfunction, disease, disaster model,” shared Turner.

Turner presented evidence that the word “sex” is not obscene, including the dictionary

Dr. George Turner

Administrative Hearing

Jefferson City, MO. Feb 2013

definition  according to Webster. When one of the two attorneys for the state asked, “how do you explain that to a five-year old?” Turner shared, “As a sexuality educator I saw this as a great opportunity to expand the conversation into real and practical applications, and I gently tried to highlight to the attorney that that would be a teachable moment, one where he as the parent can pass along his views and values on the topic.” Turner also noted, “I think this attorney, like many parents, was scared and not sure how he would approach a potentially uncomfortable topic with his child. So I shared the book series by Robie Harris with him afterwards. Books like, Its Perfectly Normal, are a phenomenal sex ed tool for families. In some ways it felt like another day at the office, providing sexually accurate information so that parents can raise sexually literate children. Most parents want what is best for their kids and most want better sex ed than they had. They just don’t have the comfort or skills. That’s where I often come into the picture, helping parents craft a message and lesson plan for their kids. It’s a great job!” stated Turner.

 

One of the attorney’s stated, “there’s a lot of questions out there, when you put the word ‘sex’ out there in public…That’s really the gist of it and why we denied it”. Addressing this concern, Turner responded, “The word sex is already out in public. I believe the attorney’s statements were based in fear and tipped his hand that he saw this as a personal duty to protect children, his children. It also echoed a common myth about sexuality education and that is it is one big conversation about reproduction at some ambiguous age when the youth is old enough. However, censoring my license plate because of your uncomfortableness with sexuality is akin to putting your head in the sand. I empathize with the attorney and share his concern for providing a safe community for children, but ignorance is not an effective strategy. A better approach would be many small conversations that are based in comprehensive, medically accurate, age appropriate sexuality education”.