A New Jersey Uber driver has been fired following the release of a shocking video in which she kicks two passengers out of her car for being gay.
Kristin Gauthier & Jenn Mangan were the two women targeted by the driver.
Ms Gauthier and Ms Mangan (pictured above) from New Jersey were travelling from their home to a Zac Brown Band concert last Friday night when the incident occurred.
Ms Gauthier recorded the abuse they received and posted it to social media.
The video quickly went viral, with thousands offering their support to the couple following the awful encounter.
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When the couple got in the car, Ms Gauthier explained that it was a simple kiss on the cheek that angered the driver.
Alongside the video, Ms Gauthier wrote on her Facebook page, “This woman picked me up as my uber driver. We took off. I gave my girlfriend a kiss on the cheek and she pulled the car over and said ‘you need to get out of my car.'”
When asked why they were being kicked out, the driver said it was because they were gay.
Ms Gauthier wrote, “[The driver] said ‘I won’t have that in my car.’ I asked what she was referring to. She said ‘you need to get out of my car because you are gay.'”
In the video itself, Ms Gauthier can be heard asking, “Are you kicking me out because I’m gay?”
To which the driver replies, “Yes. Yes I am.”
The driver, identified as Cynthia by Ms Gauthier, became progressively more violent throughout the exchange.
Ms Gauthier can be heard saying, “You’ve gotta be f***ing kidding me. It is 2019 [and] you’re kicking me out because I’m gay.”
To which the driver, Cynthia, responds by assaulting Ms Gauthier’s phone and claiming, “This is my personal [car],” before screaming at Ms Michele to get out of the car.
The driver was quickly removed from Uber’s service following the video’s release.
Despite the driver’s claims that she could reject who she wanted due to it being her personal vehicle, this was not the case.
An Uber spokesperson released a statement to the New York Post saying, “Uber does not tolerate discrimination in any form and we have been in contact with this rider. We removed the driver’s access to the app as soon as we were made aware of this incident.”
Ms Gauthier recently took to Facebook once again to thank people for the support the pair had received.
Ms Gauthier wrote that what had particularly angered her about the driver’s behaviour, was that she had used her religious beliefs to justify her hateful action:
“Thank you everyone for proving that love is stronger than hate and thank you for the support. […] I posted this because I was infuriated that someone could be so mean and put that reasoning on their religious beliefs. I believe God loves everyone no matter who they are or who they love.”
The couple also extended a thanks to Uber for responding to their complaint so quickly.
Ms Gauthier and Ms Mangan explained that they wanted to thank the company for their prompt and effective response to the video and the couple’s complaint. They also asked people not to blame the company, and for people to, “Keep spreading the love.”
Uber’s community guidelines thankfully prevent discrimination of this nature by their drivers.
The guidelines on their website clearly state, “It is unacceptable to refuse to provide services based on characteristics like a person’s age, color, disability, gender identity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected under relevant law.”
However, incidents such as this sadly do still occur despite the guidelines being clear.
Hopefully Ms Gauthier and Ms Mangan will never experience any such discrimination again. It is unsettling that in this day and age people such as the driver in the video still hold such beliefs.
