NYC Taxi Driver Told Passengers 'I Don't Drive Gays'

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Two yellow cab passengers were shocked this week when they were told by their driver: "I don't drive gays."

Ryan Smith and a friend hailed a yellow cab Tuesday night in Midtown Manhattan and were en route to Brooklyn when their driver turned around and asked Smith if he is gay, he detailed in a Facebook post.

At first Smith and his friend didn't understand the question, Smith said in his post, but then the driver asked again, "are you a gay man."

When Smith told the driver he is gay, the man said "I don't drive gays," according to the man's Facebook post.

Smith and his friend decided to end the ride early and asked their driver to let them out of the car while they were in the Lower East Side. Smith wrote that "our safety was of my immediate concern" after the taxi driver's remarks.

The man's friend directed the driver to pull over and let them out while at the same time taking a photo of the driver's medallion. Smith described her as his "newfound guardian angel" for her decisive action.

"This happened in the heart of Manhattan, NY, a gay-capitol of the world... I can only imagine what goes down in less accepting areas," Smith wrote on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the city Taxi and Limousine Commission described the driver's behavior as "totally egregious and unacceptable" in a comment on Smith's Facebook post and encouraged anybody facing similar treatment to report it to 311.

"We encourage you to report it to the TLC via 311 or NYC.GOV Online so that we may hold him fully accountable for his actions. This is not alright....not here in NYC, and not anywhere!" the spokesman, who identified himself as Allan J. Fromberg, commented.

Smith responded to Fromberg's comment Wednesday and said he filed a complaint against the driver that morning.

A TLC spokesperson did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

The incident was the second time a TLC driver has come under fire for the offensive treatment of LGBTQ people. Uber driver Ahmad El Boutari had his license suspended by the commission on Tuesday after forcing two women out of his car for kissing during a ride from a Brooklyn bar to the East Village Sunday afternoon.

The couple — Alex Iovine, 26, and Emma Pichl, 24 — were leaving a birthday party at the Gowanus bar Pig Beach when they shared a "peck" on the lips.

The commission will seek to permanently revoke the license of the driver, Ahmad El Boutari, in court.

Read Smith's full Facebook post below.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images News/Getty Images