California DMV Lets Marine Vet Wear His USMC Hat In License Photo

Marine Veteran Alex Morales was initially denied the right to wear his hat in his official California’s Drivers License photo, but after an official appeal, was allowed to in the end. 

Wearing any type of headgear for an official photo, be it for your passport or just for your college ID, is bound to draw even the slightest bit of scrutiny for the simple fact that headgear can obscure your face (which defeats the purpose of a photo I.D. in the first place.) According to a friend of Marine Vet Alex Morales from Bakersfield, California earlier last week, Alex was initially questioned as to why he needed to wear his US Marine Corp. hat during his drivers license photo and was twice discouraged to do so. After a bit of protest citing the fact that Muslims and Jews were allowed to wear headgear for religious reasons and the Marines was his sworn religion, the Bakersfield DMV relented on pretenses that an appeal would be filed. Check out some of the facebook photo posts below and let us know what you think about Alex’s right to wear his hat in the comments below.

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"SCORED ONE FOR VETERANS!!Today Alex went to the DMV to renew his license. When he was told to go have his picture taken he noticed that there were some men having their picture taken, these men were wearing turbins on there heads. Alex was asked to take his hat off to have his picture taken. He said “no”, and “no” again when asked the second time. When he was asked why he would not remove his hat he said, “those men didn’t remove their head wear, I shouldn’t either”. It was explained that this was their attire and their religion. Alex told the DMV person that what he had on was his attire and when he entered the Marines he declared an oath to the USA, and one nation under God, so that his oath was under God so just as good as his religion. Well, the DMV people didn’t know what to do, they spoke to supervisors and called Sacramento. Alex was told, after an hour, that he could wear his hat for the picture and if there were any problems they would let him know and he could appeal their decision. He told them if there was a problem he WILL appeal it. Alex feels no one has more right to display their head gear then a Veteran or active service person. When he left several employees at the DMV clapped quietly for him. He has spoken to few other Veterans and they plan to do the same.Alex feels no one has more right to display their head gear then a Veteran or active service person. When he left several employees at the DMV clapped quietly for him. He has spoken to few other Veterans and they plan to do the same."

In an update a little over a week after the initial facebook post, a license with the original unaltered photo was issued to Alex Morales with no word from the DMV that any further action would be taken against Alex for not removing his hat in the first place.

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According to California Vehicle Code, Sections 12800-5 and 13005,

"“A license shall bear a full face engraved picture or photograph of the licensee…. The DMV in the state of California wants to be sensitive to the needs of all applicants and does allow headgear to be worn because of religious beliefs provided it does not obscure the applicant’s facial features. However, it may be necessary to ask the licensee to push back the headgear to eliminate dark shadows on his/her face. No written statement from the applicant is necessary regarding the wearing of the headgear. The applicant’s verbal statement is sufficient.”"

And according to this document published by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund,

"California statute requires a full-face photograph which displays the facial features (eyes, nose, and mouth). California residents are not required to remove any headgear that is part of his/her normal identification or worn due to religious beliefs such as the turban."

So although a U.S. Marine Corp hat in and of itself isn’t a piece of religious headgear, if a person’s hat is tied closely enough to his identity, it looks like certain exceptions can be made after an official review.

It looks like it would’ve caused more trouble than good for DMV officials if they insisted that he come back in to take his photo without his hat.

So for the time being it looks like there’s some precedent out there that allows any of our brave men and women who’ve served our country the honor of wearing any hat of their military branch so as long as they can honestly say it’s a part of their everyday identity.

The way we see it, if someone has the audacity to waste litigation and taxpayers money in investigating whether someone has a right to wear a spaghetti colander on someone’s head in their own DMV photo, then it should be no question to allow veterans who’ve sacrificed far more the right to wear a hat identifying their line of service in that same photo.

H/T- Snopes