Pagan minister Phelan Moonsong is reveling in his triumph over the bureaucrats at the Bangor Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The 56-year-old “priest of Pan” has worn a pair of goat horns on his head – strapped on with a piece of 50-pound fishing line – since a member of his Pagan men’s group offered them up when his goat died in 2009, and Moonsong considers them his “spiritual antenna,” The Washington Post reports.

So when a Bangor Bureau of Motor Vehicles worker demanded that he remove the horns to obtain a state-issued identification card, Moonsong refused and sought an exemption for his religious headdress.

The worker took Moonsong’s picture, but “she told me that I had to send in some documentation or religious text to show why it was required for me to have my horns on,” the Pagan priest told the news site.

“I said, ‘OK, I’ll go ahead and do that,’ but it seemed like an onerous requirement.”

Moonsong said he sent the Maine Secretary of State a personal letter explaining the significance of the horns, as well as multiple texts, including one titled “Pagan Religions: A Handbook for Diversity Training,” the New York Post reports.

“As a practicing Pagan minister and a priest of Pan, I’ve come to feel very attached to the horns, and they’ve become a part of me and part of my spirituality,” he said. “The horns are part of my religious attire.”

After waiting months for his ID, he contacted the Bangor BMV to inform them that he was discussing the situation with the American Civil Liberties Union, he said, and the ID arrived in the mail a few days later.

“Had my first pic (sic) taken at the Bangor BMV where they asked me send in doc to get it approved .. was never told it was rejected till I called back last week,” Moonsong posted to Facebook.

Maine Secretary of State spokeswoman Kristen Muszynski told the Bangor Daily News that neither the state agency nor the Bangor Bureau of Motor Vehicles received the materials justifying Moonsong’s religious exemption. She alleged he did not cite his religion at the BMV, though Moonsong said he informed workers he was “an ordained Pagan minister.”

“He did not cite religious reasons,” Muszynski said. “There are exceptions for religious headdress.”

“Documentation is not something that we formally require,” she said. “But, I can’t speak for the customer serviceperson.”

BMV senior section manager Rhonda Boynton told the Daily News she wasn’t very familiar with Moonsong’s case, but religious exemptions for ID pictures often go through state officials.

“From what I understand, they have to have a reason to put something on their head,” Boynton said. “We ask what the religion is, and if we can’t determine it is a true religion, it goes to Augusta.”

Officials told the Daily News that Main follows guidelines for pictures set by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators that state “the portrait may only show the cardholder with headgear, if the cardholder is a member of a religion requiring the wearing thereof and provided that the headgear does not present as an obstruction or present a shadow and render the portrait inadequate for the identification of the cardholder.”

Moonsong told The Washington Post he was “elated” his ID includes his prized horns, and hopes the episode will inspire other Pagans to speak out against discrimination.

“A lot of Pagans are in the closet and – as with the LGBT crowd – there’s a lot of misconceptions and discrimination that they face,” he said. “Many practicing Pagans are afraid of being public, but when they see my horns it reminds them it’s okay to be yourself.”

Moonsong said he’s struggled without an ID since changing his name this summer, but now plans use it to fly to California for some of the best Pagan festivals in the country.

“I’m very excited,” he said.