--- title: Pastafarian Woman Wears Colander in Driver's License Photo description: She identifies as Pastafarian canonical: https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-16T16:50:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:26:57.043Z og:title: Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver's License Photo og:description: She identifies as Pastafarian og:url: https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc9bab739933fb2a/69887142bc6cfca13f3da670/drivers-license-lindsay-miller-massachusetts-colander.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: Lindsay Miller License og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver's License Photo twitter:description: She identifies as Pastafarian twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc9bab739933fb2a/69887142bc6cfca13f3da670/drivers-license-lindsay-miller-massachusetts-colander.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver's License Photo > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Nov 16, 2015 4:50 PM UTC  American Humanist Association by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Nov 16, 2015 4:50 PM UTC A woman who belongs to the [Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster](http://www.venganza.org/about/) has won the right to wear a colander on her head in her Massachusetts driver’s license photo. Her initial attempts were denied. “As a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I feel delighted that my Pastafarianism has been respected by the Massachusetts RMV,” the woman, Lindsay Miller, said in [a press release](http://americanhumanist.org/news/details/2015-11-massachusetts-pastafarian-wins-right-to-wear-a-colan) from the American Humanist Association. “While I don’t think the government can involve itself in matters of religion, I do hope this decision encourages my fellow Pastafarian Atheists to come out and express themselves as I have.” A spokesperson for the Massachusetts RMV [told](http://abc7chicago.com/religion/pastafarian-gets-to-wear-spaghetti-colander-on-head-in-license-photo/1086020/) the Associated Press that state policy does not allow head coverings or hats in license photos — “but exceptions are made for religious reasons.” Pastafarianism is “a secular religion that views the existence of a Flying Spaghetti Monster to be just as probable as the existence of the Christian God,” the release explains. According to the religion’s [website](http://www.venganza.org/about/): “We are not anti-religion, we are anti-crazy nonsense done in the name of religion. There is a difference.” Oh, and this is [not the first time](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/14/atheist-wins-right-to-wear-pastafarian-headgear-in-license-photo/) somebody has fought for their right to wear a pasta strainer in a driver’s license photo. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/"},"headline":"Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver's License Photo","datePublished":"2015-11-16T16:50:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:57.043Z","description":"She identifies as Pastafarian","url":"https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc9bab739933fb2a/69887142bc6cfca13f3da670/drivers-license-lindsay-miller-massachusetts-colander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc9bab739933fb2a/69887142bc6cfca13f3da670/drivers-license-lindsay-miller-massachusetts-colander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lindsay Miller License","caption":"Lindsay Miller License","creditText":"American Humanist Association","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/","name":"Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver's License Photo"}}]}] ```