Christian Woman Humiliated: Religious Discrimination at the DMV? 

An Alabama DMV is being sued for refusing to serve a Christian woman.

When Yvonne Allen went to her local DMV to change the photo for her driver's license, she had no idea she would leave humiliated with tears in her eyes.

Allen is a Christian woman who believes she must cover her hair with a headscarf. When it came time to take her picture the DMV clerk refused.

"The DMV refused to take my driver's license photo unless I remove it," she said in a statement. "The DMV officials said only Muslims were allowed to keep their headscarves on for photos."

The DMV would only allow Allen to take the picture wearing her headscarf if she were Muslim.

"I was horrified," Allen added. "A friend who had accompanied me saw the look on my face and quickly explained, 'Ma'am she doesn't uncover her hair ever.'"

But the only reply Allen says she got was, "You are not a Muslim, and Christian women don't cover their hair."

Despite talking to several DMV officials, Allen was forced to remove her headscarf and take the pictures.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Allen's behalf, arguing that Lee County's refusal to provide a religious accommodation violates her rights under the Alabama Constitution and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Caleb Wolanek, a third year Harvard Law student and legal commentator said the DMV forced Allen to choose between God or her license.

"Ms. Allen was faced with a choice at the DMV: obey the government (and violate her religious convictions) or obey God (and be denied her driver's license)," he wrote for AL.com.

"And as the DMV made clear, she was only put to that choice because she is a Christian, not a Muslim," Wolanek added. 

Wolanek says Allen's case shows that religious discrimination can happen anywhere. 

"This case serves as a reminder that religious discrimination can happen to anyone—even Christians in the Bible Belt," he said.