San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, December 12, 1998
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

But even as Kevin Dimmick, 42, of Kensington hung his plate on his motorcycle outside the DMV office in El Cerrito, a new lawsuit he has filed accuses the agency of obstructing justice.

"I've proved it's OK to have HIV," Dimmick said of the white license plate with blue lettering on the back of his 1987 Harley-Davidson. "But what I've had to do to get this is insane."

In July, a federal judge ruled that the DMV discriminated against Dimmick by refusing to issue him his requested plate because people might be offended. "Unlike racial, ethnic and religious slurs, there is nothing inherently offensive about declaring that one is infected with HIV," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston.

Illston, however, rejected Dimmick's claims that the DMV had discriminated against him on the basis of his disability or had purposefully inflicted emotional distress.

Those claims were the basis of Dimmick's $5 million federal lawsuit against the DMV in 1996 after the agency denied his request for his personalized plate.

Last week, Dimmick filed a new lawsuit alleging the DMV obstructed justice by not disclosing that other license plates contained the "HIV" configuration.

DMV spokesman Bill Gengler declined to comment on the latest suit yesterday but said the agency had cooperated with the judge's order in giving Dimmick his plate.

"I think it certainly was his prerogative to attempt to get the plate through the court, and he has succeeded," Gengler said.

But the DMV will continue to screen license plate requests and respond to public complaints concerning "configurations that are sensitive to the public or are improper," he said.

Yesterday afternoon, Dimmick arrived for a scheduled appointment at Window 9 of his local DMV office, where cagey officials asked him why he was accompanied by the news media.

But within moments, employee Armando Guerrero was there to help, giving Dimmick his plate and reminding him where to put the registration stickers. "I heard something about this on the news," Guerrero told Dimmick. After the motorcyclist told him about his protracted battle with the DMV, Guerrero, sounding genuinely concerned, said, "I'm sorry to hear that." Dimmick, who said he probably contracted the AIDS virus through drug use or unsafe sex, has headed a group for HIV-infected heterosexuals. He is also an advocate for motorcyclists.

Dimmick said he found it ironic that he spent more than two years getting his "HIV POS" plate, only to learn this week that the United States is asking states to begin tracking HIV infections.

As for finally winning his plate, Dimmick said, "At least everybody will know who I am."
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