SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman says she encountered only brief resistance when she recently had her driver’s license photo taken while wearing a colander on her head as a religious statement. Asia Lemmon, whose legal name appears on her driver’s license as Jessica Steinhauser, said the pasta strainer represents her beliefs in the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster movement, also known as “Pastafarianism,” started in 2005 as a protest against teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in Kansas schools.

Nannette Rolfe, the director of Utah’s Driver License Division, said about a dozen Pastafarians have had their state driver’s license photos taken with a similar colander or pasta strainer on their heads in recent years.

“As long as we can get a visual of the face, we’re fine if they choose to wear the headgear,” she said.Lemmon, a St. George resident, is a former porn star who performed under the name Asia Carrera, The Spectrum of St. George reported Monday.

She said she wanted to make a statement with the photo.

“I’m a really proud, outspoken atheist,” she said. “I am proud of Utah for allowing freedom of all religions in what is considered by many to be a one-religion state.”