US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has rejected this farmer’s application because his hometown name is “offensive”. But how’s that even possible?
A farmer from US state of Georgia was upset when he learned his hometown was on the USDA’s list of banned words.
Gene King, a cattle farmer from the community of Gay, Georgia applied for a special interstate transport license with the department – but it was rejected because the computer system detected a banned word in his address. He was told the name of his town was not only considered offensive but banned by the USDA.
Fox5 Atlanta was the first to report this bizarre story:
What word could be so offensive? Gene King lives in Gay, Georgia. “No one’s got a problem coming to Gay, Georgia,” said King. “I don’t have a problem living in Gay, Georgia. But the USDA’s got a problem with Gay, Georgia.”
King also told the outlet that he had been trying to obtain a special livestock transport license from the United States Department of Agriculture, to allow him to transport cattle across states.
However, the farmer experienced a setback – when the town’s name was rejected as explicit by the USDA’s computer system.
He queried the hold-up with the USDA, recounting: “[A worker] said it’s kicking it out saying that’s an offensive word and won’t accept your application.”
Approximately 100 people live in the town of Gay, Georgia, which was named after William F Gay and was founded in 1882. The quaint community is about an hour south of Atlanta.
King told FOX 5 that the name can be confusing in conversation, and said:
“I have gay friends.”
“Here in Gay, Georgia?”
“No, not in Gay, Georgia.”
“You have gay friends outside of Gay.”
“Outside of Gay, yeah.”
But no friends of Gay, Georgia in the US Department of Agriculture. Earlier this month, Gene applied for a special ID through the USDA called a Premises Number. That allows him to buy and sell cattle across state lines. He completed the form and called to check on his status.
King said he told the government worker over the phone:
“And, I said, ‘No, I don’t want to submit it as Bay, Georgia,”
“I want to submit it as Gay, Georgia because that’s where I live. And, she said, ‘Do you want a number or not?’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Ma’am. This is ridiculous.’”
Watch it here: Youtube/Fox5
Read more of this story from Taphaps:
The premises identification allocator was originally developed in the early 2000s for the National Animal Identification System, using the technology available at the time. The program was very contentious and IT developers were concerned about the possibility of people attempting to create “bad” premises IDs to prove there was a problem with the program or its IT systems. They created a database of words with bad connotations that would not be allowed in the system.
Since that time, the NAIS program has ended and been replaced by animal disease traceability regulations. The IT architecture was repurposed to meet the new regulations, until the time it could be redesigned to take advantage of newer technology available to validate addresses. After a delay due to intensive efforts to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza this spring, the agency is working to upgrade the technology so this will no longer be an issue.
The USDA wouldn’t provide a complete list of so-called bad words or say who decided the word “gay” belonged on that list. But, they obviously didn’t think the implications through. “Lewd” sounding and possibly “offensive” town names can be found all across the US.