A newly married South Florida man who opted to take his wife’s last name is fighting the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles after it suspended his driving license on grounds of fraud.

Real estate investor Lazaro Sopena offered to change his name following his 2011 marriage to Hanh Dinh in order to help his wife’s Vietnamese family perpetuate their family surname.

Shortly after their marriage, Lazaro Dinh obtained a new passport and Social Security card and changed his bank account and credit cards before applying to update his drivers license.

“It was an act of love. I have no particular emotional ties to my last name,” said Dinh, 40, who was born in Cuba and came to the United States at the age of 11 in 1984…

Lazaro Dinh was initially issued a new license after presenting his marriage certificate at his local DMV office and paying a $20 fee, just as newly married women are required to do when they adopt their husband’s name.

“It was easy. When the government issues you a new passport you figure you’re fine,” he said.

More than a year later Dinh received a letter from Florida’s DMV last December accusing him of “obtaining a driving license by fraud,” and advising him that his license would be suspended at the end of the month. Ironically, it was addressed to Lazaro Dinh.

I thought it was a mistake,” he said.

But when he called the state DMV office in Tallahassee he said he was told he had to go to court first in order to change his name legally, a process that takes several months and has a $400 filing fee.

When he explained he was changing his name due to marriage, he was told ‘that only works for women”…

One of the qualities required of Confederate state officials must be ignorance. Certainly the scumbags in charge of the Florida DMV lead the pack when it comes to fear of modern society.

UPDATE: The state of Floriduh has relented. The DMV is reissuing Lazaro Dinh’s driver’s license. They say they will have to retrain some of their staff to understand that both men and women can change their names upon marriage. And might even have to include men marrying men, women marrying women.



  1. Mr Diesel says:

    It has got to be Bush’s fault somehow.

  2. McCullough says:

    “Confederate state officials” ????

    Uh, Florida has about as much in common with the South as South Jersey.

    • god says:

      Black folks in Trenton would probably agree.

    • FOAD says:

      Are you sure about that?!

      Here’s a little snippet from Wikipedia about Florida in the Civil War ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_in_the_American_Civil_War ) since I couldn’t get to the library and copy like every text book that ever covered the subject!:

      Florida in the American Civil War served the Confederate States of America from the beginning of the Civil War. Following Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, the state of Florida joined other Southern states in declaring secession from the Union, the third of the original seven states to do so.

      With a small population, Florida would contribute more goods to the Confederate cause than manpower. It produced large amounts of sustenance and its large coastline made it difficult for Union Navy efforts to curb blockade runners bringing in supplies and material from foreign markets.

      So if that isn’t proof that Florida isn’t a former Confederate State then I suppose the earth is flat and everyone is controlled by some little man inside them.

      Remember, tradition is a hard thing to break – just like religion and just like STUPIDITY! (As if there’s any sort of difference!)

      • FOAD says:

        …And in case you need the obvious pointed out, Florida is also considered to be part of the “Bible belt” too!

      • McCullough says:

        I think the civil war has been over for quite some time.

        • spsffan says:

          Not in the South.

          • KiltedTim says:

            Worked for a company headquartered in GA a while back. Those of us in the North got MLK day off. Those in the South got Confederate Memorial Day instead.

          • McCullough says:

            So, are you from the south?

            Because I’m from the nawth, great great grandpappy a famous Reb Killer during the Civil War.

            I have great friends from New Hampshire, who thought that way as well. Then they visited often and realized just how stupid they were acting. Some of the biggest rednecks I have met, were from Vermont and New Hampshire.

            Get over it.

        • Mad Dog Jack says:

          I believe it’s called The War of Northern Aggression in some quarters.

          • spsffan says:

            Well, since the winners get to write history, I don’t know why we don’t call it the “War of the Rebellion” which is what the US government calls it.

            But I digress. For the record, I am indeed from the South. Southern California! I have ancestors from Texas who fought for the CSA (Dad’s Mom’s side) and from Michigan who fought for the Union (Dad’s Dad’s side).

            And, I don’t see where in the Constitution it says that a state cannot succeed. And, it should have been the free states that succeeded from the slave states. But that isn’t what happened. So, like the holocaust and the moon landing, we’re stuck with it.

          • spsffan says:

            Sorry about that. I know succeed, from secede but my spell check doesn’t, and I kept getting interrupted when writing that.

      • NobodySpecial says:

        In the south – isn’t it normal for the bride and groom to have the same surname BEFORE they are married?

      • Gwad his own self says:

        Florida is also a former Spanish colony.

        Should we refer to it as “Spanish Florida”?

        Or were you just being intentionally obtuse?

  3. Guyver says:

    All the more reason why government shouldn’t be in the business of marriage to begin with.

    • LibertyLover says:

      Bingo

    • dusanmal says:

      Or any other services not specifically mentioned in the Constitution (say, healthcare, guns, environmental issues, energy, agriculture, education,…). You can’t pick and choose. Either you want mad Nanny Government meddling and controlling everything (with inevitable bureaucratic mess as here) or not. No middle ground.

      • Grey Bird says:

        Try again. This was the _state_ government that got involved. The constitution gives the states all powers not given to the federal government.

  4. super77 says:

    Why is this even news?

  5. Mr Diesel says:

    Because no one is going to post any snippets of the oral sex fest from 60 Minutes between Obobbo and Hillary.

  6. sargasso_c says:

    Florida has a big problem with identity fraud. Probably because it is seems to be almost entirely populated by gypsy roof painters, retired insurance fraudsters and witness protection program refugees.

    • Gwad his own self says:

      You’ve obviously never been to Florida.

      Florida is almost entirely populated by retired Yankees.

      FTFY.

  7. bobbo, we think with words, and flower with ideas says:

    Of course the government should be “involved” in the institution of marriage.

    What are you McCullough ((dare I even mention Loser for fear of being called a troll?………. here goes……)) some kind of mindless bunny rabbit?

    Marriage is all about two things of vital interest to the government: kiddies and property.

    Shows a very common BASIC mistake in too many people and ALL LIEberTARDs though: when the government gets something a bit wrong but 90% right==then lets put our brains in the toilet and say they shouldn’t do anything at all. For those of you slow on the math, that would be 100% wrong.

    Silly Hoomans. Thinking rules aren’t necessary because some are wrong and need to be changed.

    Ha, ha.

    • bobbo, we think with words, and flower with ideas says:

      Oops! My error. Sorry McCullough, didn’t switch my Mc’s when McGuyver posted instead.

      Amusing….Guyver taking on another hard religious point of view? THAT issue must be …. what….400 years old? The state interfering in church matters.

      I’d say just the opposite: The Church should not be involved in marriage issues. Its a sham to think they care, much less are even qualified to have an opinion.

      Yea, verily!

  8. deegee says:

    Instead of taking his drivers license they should have taken his man card.

  9. MikeN says:

    Probably one of those liberals who left a Democratic run state where his fellow liberals made things too expensive.

  10. Chris Mac says:

    do a blackberry story with a vote please

    • Mr Diesel says:

      Yes, with a story on the oral sex fest between Obobbo and Clinton too.

  11. msbpodcast says:

    Hey, ignorant Americans, that is an old Spanish and Portugese tradition.

    It applies to people belonging to Spanish and Portugese civilizations, (which may explain why they’ve never heard of it in Florida [our most fucked up State. {Ya gotta pay ‘tenshun? Nahhh. Screw dat… They’s ignurnt ‘n proud of it!}])

    If you’re marrying up (one partner is higher up on the socio-economic scale,) the person being pulled up gets to jettison or deprecate his/her patronimic.

  12. TooManyPuppies says:

    Can we please just give Floriduh to China? We’re trillions in the hole that can never be re-paid, so let’s just give them a few states before we allow them to take it with force.

    • orchidcup says:

      The Saudi Arabians own most of the real estate and business interests in the US of A. Nobody knows how much exactly, because it is a big secret.

      The Chinese hold most of out Treasury Bonds.

      I don’t know whether I should start learning Arabic or Chinese.

      I hope I am dead before we are taken over by the Communist Party or Sharia Law.

      It has been fun watching the decline and fall of American republican democracy, but most democracies have committed suicide, according to John Adams.

      Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

      — John Adams (1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President
      Source: letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814

  13. Johan says:

    Wow, do people actually think it makes you less of a man to take your wifes last name? If I got married I wouldn’t be opposed to it.


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