The New York newlyweds also claim NYPD officers laughed at their complaint.

A Uber driver in Manhattan allegedly hurled homophobic insults at a gay couple earlier this week, the New York Post reports, driving off as one of the men attempted to exit the vehicle.

Newlyweds Taray Carey and Alex Majkowski were taking the Uber with a friend from Hell’s Kitchen to a bar in the East Village around 1:50am. Near the end of the ride, Carey, 27, and Majkowski, 33, shared a kiss in the backseat.

According to Carey, the driver asked, “Are you fags?” Asked to repeat himself, he continued, “Are you faggots? Are you faggots?” Saying he was from Russia, he added, “In my country you’d be beheaded for that.”

The driver, identified as Denis by a screenshot of his Uber profile, then “started driving like a moron,” Carey says. “His hatred of gays was beyond his self-preservation.”

The couple’s friend hopped out when the Uber stopped at a red light. Carey claims that when he tried to follow, he got caught on the seatbelt as the driver abruptly drove off, dragging him about a quarter of a block and leaving him with scrapes on his hand and knee, as well as a “golf ball”-sized welt on his head. Majkowski got out safely when the car stopped at the next red light.

“I’m not used to feeling so defenseless,” says Carey, a former college linebacker.

Carey also alleges that the NYPD responders added “insult to injury” by dismissing the couple’s story. “The police laughed,” Carey says. “[One officer] said, ‘You probably deserved it.’” An NYPD spokesman, however, insists that body camera footage contradicts these claims.

“A complaint report was filed for leaving the scene of an accident with injury and is being investigated by the 9th Precinct Detective Squad,” the NYPD statement continues.

“What’s been reported is very concerning to us,” says an Uber spokesperson. “Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination. The driver’s access to the app has been removed as we continue to investigate.”



Carey was refunded $17.46 for the trip.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates all for-hire vehicles in New York, also confirms that they are investigating the complaint.

While both Lyft and rival ride-sharing company Uber include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies for drivers and passengers, numerous cases of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and violence have been reported by passengers.

A New York lesbian couple claim they were kicked out of an Uber this summer after sharing a brief kiss. RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Aja and boyfriend Lizard Lemon were reportedly kicked out of a New York Lyft, also for kissing.



