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Georgia won’t allow Pastafarian to wear colander in license photo

Chris Avino took a driver’s license picture with a colander on his head, claiming it was religious head gear. But instead of sending his license, the state sent a letter calling Pastafarianism “a philosophy that mocks religion” and telling him he has to retake the picture. Avino is protesting the decision. Source: Contributed
Chris Avino took a driver’s license picture with a colander on his head, claiming it was religious head gear. But instead of sending his license, the state sent a letter calling Pastafarianism “a philosophy that mocks religion” and telling him he has to retake the picture. Avino is protesting the decision. Source: Contributed
By Arielle Kass
Dec 31, 2015

Whether or not Chris Avino could sport a colander in his driver’s license photo became an issue for the Georgia Department of Driver Services.

Avino got a temporary ID sporting the strainer after telling people it was a religious headdress — he is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But the department later changed its mind and said Avino would have to retake the picture.

A colander, they said, is just a colander.

» ONLINE EXTRA: Read the original DDS letter to Chris Avino here (.PDF)

» EXCLUSIVE: The letter Avino sent to DDS in response

» GET THE FULL STORY: To read more about Avino’s fight and the state’s response, click here

About the Author

Arielle Kass covers Gwinnett County for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She started at the paper in 2010, and has covered business and local government beats around metro Atlanta. Arielle is a graduate of Emory University.

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