Aaron Williams wanted to renew his license. However, he ran into difficulties when he, as a Pastafarian, refused to remove the strainer from his head.
South Brunswick police officers responded to the MVC facility on Route 130 on a call that a man renewing his driver’s license refused to remove the strainer on his head, according to a police report. The incident occurred about noon on Saturday, Feb. 2.
The man, Aaron Williams, 25, who gave an Egg Harbor Township address, told motor vehicle workers the strainer was a religious head covering and he had a right to wear it in his driver’s license photo.
Williams said he practices Pastafarianism.
Williams says he’s a serious Pastafarian.
“I take it as seriously as anybody else when it comes to religious beliefs,” he said.
According to a police report, an motor vehicle employee told Williams head coverings can’t be worn in license photos unless it’s for religious reasons.
Eventually Williams (reluctantly) agreed to take his the standard license pic, sans the strainer. He’s the second person, that I know of, to bring Pastafarianism into the DMV.
In Austria, self-described Pastafarian Niko Alm fought for three years for the right to wear a pasta strainer on his head in his driver’s license photo. He won his fight after officials performed a mental-health check, according to NPR.
