A man in the US who applied for a new ID after changing his name said he won a battle with officials to allow him to wear a pair of religious horns in his photo.
Phelan MoonSong said he had his photo taken for a new ID after he legally changed his name in June, and he was told to send the Secretary of State’s office documentation to explain that the horns he wore in the photo were religious head wear for his “Paganism” religion.
MoonSong said months went by without his new ID arriving, so he visited the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office in Portland Tuesday to investigate.
He said officials told him his first photo was rejected by the state, but he could take another picture — with the horns.
“I won,” MoonSong wrote in a Facebook post. “Picture with horns allowed and being re-taken.”
“I think they tried to think they needed to have a more stringent rule or reason why my spirituality or my religion was a proper one,” MoonSong told WGME-TV. “That’s not really required, just a strong belief to start any church or religion.“