Woman Wins Right to Wear Spaghetti Strainer in License Photo

A Massachusetts woman won the right to wear a spaghetti strainer on her head in a driver’s license photo for “religious reasons” because she is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Lindsay Miller identifies herself as a “Pastafarian,” a member of a religion which teaches the possibility that an invisible flying “spaghetti monster” may have created the universe.

Miller was originally denied by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles when she appeared in August to renew her license while donning the colander.

The RMV prohibits drivers from wearing any covering on their heads for license photos, except for “medical or religious reasons.” When Miller showed up the first time, “they were kind of laughing at me,” she said. “I thought of other religions and women and thought that this was not fair,” the Boston Globe quoted her as saying.

After scheduling an appeal, Miller enlisted the help of Patty DeJuneas, a member of the Secular Legal Society, which assists the American Humanist Association. Soon thereafter the RMV canceled the appeal and told DeJuneas it would allow Miller to take her photo while wearing the strainer.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster encourages its members to wear colanders in ID photos. “Why not wear a colander in your ID photos? Most places are cool with it, and those who are not can surely be poked by the ACLU,” the website suggests.

Miller’s case isn’t the first time a Pastafarian made news while wearing a strainer. In 2014 an “openly Pastafarian” was sworn in as a town councilman while wearing a colander in Pomfret, New York.