INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Bureau of Motor Vehicles has reversed an earlier ruling and decided that a woman may have a personalized license plate carrying the words "BE GODS."

The reversal comes after Liz Ferris sued the BMV in federal court for refusing to issue a new plate carrying the same words she had on other plates for several years. Ferris contended in her lawsuit that the BMV was discriminating against her for expressing her beliefs.

The agency told Ferris that it prohibits vanity plates referring to race, religion, deity, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or political party or affiliation.

Her suit was filed the same day the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the state's "In God We Trust" license plate.

Ferris had the same plate on her car for eight or nine years but forgot to renew it on time for 2008. When she submitted a new personalized plate application, the BMV denied her request due to a recent policy change banning any references to religion or a deity on new personalized plates.

That policy took effect in November 2007, just after the renewal deadline passed for Ferris.

Commissioner Ron Stiver said in a statement released Tuesday that the BMV would give Ferris a new plate bearing her old message — which she intended to mean "Be God's" or "belong to God."

"After reviewing Ms. Ferris' request, it is clear that she attempted to reserve her PLP prior to November 6. As such, I have overruled the existing determination and directed that Ms. Ferris receive her initially requested PLP," Stiver wrote.

Ferris' lawsuit, which challenges the policy on religious references as unconstitutional, was filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis by the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Erik Stanley, the group's senior legal counsel, said the lawsuit would proceed because the BMV's policy is still in place and if Ferris were to let her license plate lapse next year or a few years from now she would still be subject to the same policy.

"We're going to continue forward with our claims against the regulation itself. It's going to take a lot more than just giving her the plate to settle the lawsuit," he said.

Stiver defended the policy in his statement, saying that Ferris was getting a pass under a grandfather rule that allows renewals of existing plates even if they violate the new policy.

"Simply stated, if the BMV approves such pro-deity plates as 'GOD CAN,' the agency has no grounds to reject such plates as 'GOD CANT,' 'GODLESS,' or other more extreme anti-deity plates that have been requested and that most Hoosiers would find offensive," Stiver said.