A young lesbian couple has claimed that they were chucked out of their Uber by the driver after he saw them sharing "a peck" in the back seat of his car.
Alex Lovine, 26, and her girlfriend Emma Pichl, 24, were riding in the car on Saturday night in Manhattan when the driver pulled over and told them to get out. They thought that the man was joking but then things began to get serious and they got their phones out to capture the ordeal.
Speaking to New York Daily News, Lovine said:
"We were sitting on opposite sides of the car. We leaned in for a peck, and that’s what it was, a legit peck.
"My girlfriend started laughing. She thought he was joking. He yelled at us for being disrespectful and inappropriate because we pecked on the lips."
According to the women, they ordered the cab to drive them from Brooklyn to East Village at around 5pm. However, along the way, the driver got annoyed at the couple and can be heard saying:
"It’s illegal. You can’t do this in the car. You aren’t allowed to do this."
In a statement regarding the incident, Uber said:
"Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination, and we have reached out to the rider regarding her experience.
"We are investigating and will take appropriate action."
Despite their claims, Lovine said that she is yet to receive a response from the company:
"Getting this out there, getting a refund and getting an apology is all I want right now.
"It was a really terrible experience - and ironically occurred on a bright sunny day during pride month in NYC."
"Obviously, he’s homophobic. I was very surprised. I haven’t experienced homophobic behavior in the city. We live in this bubble and think this can’t happen here in New York City. This goes to show that it can happen anywhere."
Uber's Law Enforcement guide says that they need full details of what happened before they can act on the incident and pass it on to law enforcement:
"We have a process for evaluating requests on an emergency or exigent basis where there is an emergency or exigency that involves protecting a rider, driver-partner, or third party who has been physically harmed or stopping illegal activity that poses an immediate threat of physical harm, or in cases of verifiable time-sensitive investigations.
"We require a description of the nature of the emergency or urgency, including details about the nature of the alleged actual or threatened physical harm or exigency, and we review these requests on a case-by-case basis.
"We may provide responsive information when we have a good faith belief that doing so may protect riders, driver-partners, others, Uber, or otherwise assist with an exigent investigation.
"Once the emergency or exigency has passed, we require law enforcement to follow up with the appropriate legal process and we may require law enforcement to obtain appropriate legal process for any initial or additional disclosure.
"To facilitate our review, law enforcement should provide as much detail about the incident or emergency as possible."
Lovine has now filed a complaint with New York City's Human Rights Commission.
It's a disgraceful act of homophobia from the driver who should have his taxi license revoked for his attitude.
