Top court won’t allow special license pic

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled against a Norman woman who wanted to get a driver’s license without a high-resolution photo because of her religious views.

Kaye Beach has gone without a license since 2011 because of beliefs that came from her study of Revelations in the Bible.

Despite the ruling Tuesday, Beach, 49, said she will continue to explore her legal options.

“I feel certain that I’m going to prevail,” she told

The Oklahoman.

Beach sued the state Department of Public Safety after she attempted to renew her driver’s license in 2011. She refused to have her photo taken and fingerprints scanned and was denied renewal.

By law, DPS is required to maintain a system for storing driver’s license photos and scanned fingerprints. The industry standard requires “biometric photos,” suitable for use with facial recognition software.

Beach believes the biometric photo and fingerprinting for the system “is forbidden in the Bible,” Justice Joseph M. Watt wrote in Tuesday’s opinion.

She specifically alleges DPS is violating the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act.

“I believe that it is against the wishes of God for me to be in the system,” Beach said during 2013 testimony. She said she believes biometrics will eventually be installed on or in the body.

Key to her beliefs are the passages in Revelations about the “number of the beast,” 666, and how anyone who receives his mark will suffer the wrath of God forever.

Beach claims the Bible “explicitly commands believers to not participate in a global numbering identification system using the number of man, and eternally condemns participation in that system.”

She contends DPS takes measurements off facial points from the biometric photo for use with facial recognition technology. She believes the resulting measurement is the “number of a man,” which is referenced in Revelations 13, according to the opinion.

“The government intends to use the biometric photo to tie our bodies to our ability to buy and sell in order to permit or deny access to goods, services, places and things needed to live every day,” she contends, according to the opinion.

The Supreme Court found there is no evidence to support Beach’s fear that DPS “is distributing her biometric data on an international scale, intentionally or accidentally, in violation of her religious beliefs.”

On Tuesday, Beach declined to speak at length about her case but said she is disappointed with the ruling.

“I want this to be recognized that this is a violation of my sincerely held religious beliefs,” she said.

Beach is a legislative assistant for Rep. Jon Echols. She has attended First Baptist Church in Moore and other churches, documents show.

She wants DPS to renew her license by using a lowresolution, non-biometric photo and without taking her fingerprints, documents show.

Without a valid license, she has been ticketed while driving, according to the opinion. She also has been unable to pick up prescriptions, complete debit card transactions and book hotel rooms, documents show.

“There’s so many things that I don’t do, social events that I’m afraid that I won’t be allowed in. I mean, I’m isolated,” Beach testified in 2013.

She testified her husband does have a valid driver’s license.