Cab driver forces hugging couple to ‘beat it’

On Nov. 2, after attending a friend’s birthday party Paul Bruno and his boyfriend, Erick Ruales, hailed a yellow taxi at 10:20p.m. on the corner of 13th Street and 1st Avenue. After only two blocks driver Medhat Mohammed abruptly kicked both men out of the cab because the couple was hugging in the backseat.

Bruno decided not to let this act of discrimination go unnoticed by reporting Mohammed to both the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and Human Rights Commission (HRC).

This account of homosexual discrimination is not as black and white as one might believe. Bruno admits that he and his boyfriend did engage in a small cuddling session while in the cab when the driver pulled over and shouted, “You guys have to get out of the taxi! Hugging is not allowed in here!” Bruno said that he was “utterly shocked at the blatant act of discrimination and immediately reported Mohammed by calling 311.”

On the other hand, Mohammed’s account of that taxi ride is very different from Bruno and Ruales’. Mohammed claims that the couple’s actions were much more intensely sexual then they are willing to admit.

Mohammed stated, “I wanted to pay attention to getting them to their destination instead of worrying if they were going to have sex or not. They kept hugging and kissing. He was almost sitting on his lap. And I said, 'OK, guys, come on, I'm driving.’”

Mohammed even claims that he offered them the option to either stop their sexual behavior and continue on to their destination of East Harlem or exit the cab. When Bruno and Ruales did not stop their canoodling Mohammed believed it was the right decision to remove them from his taxi.

Mohammed claims this was not an act of discrimination against the homosexual couple, but rather a decision based on the safety of himself and his passengers because he believed their behavior to be too distracting to him while driving.

Another proposed motive to Mohammed’s actions is his Islamic background. Mohammed claims that if the events that took place between Bruno and Ruales had been between a heterosexual couple, he would have told them to exit the cab as well.

When asked to comment on this subject the owner of his Taxi Medallion, another Muslim, told The New York Post, “in our religion, we can't handle that stuff. There's no kissing allowed in the cab. A man has to be a man."

However, this claim of visual sensitivity due to religion is extremely hard to believe knowing that there is a good number of Muslim taxi drivers in New York City, but only one report of Islamic values being the reason to throw out a couple on the corner late at night.

Paul Bruno responded to this possibility by saying, “I don’t know if it was a personal or religious thing. But it’s never OK to deny anyone a ride, especially when it’s such blatant and direct discrimination.”

A spokesperson for the TLC stated that they are taking this accusation very seriously and that they are implementing further investigation before any corrective actions take place against Mohammed.

Although many people find this situation to be an obvious example of discrimination against homosexuals the TLC said, “It would be considered a 'service refusal.' The first offense is a $200 to $350 fine, the second a $350 to $500 fine and a 30-day suspension, and the third strike is license revocation."

Neither the TLC or the HRC have released a statement taking a stance on whether they believed Mohammed’s actions to be discriminatory in nature.Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded to this situation by calling the drivers acts “if as reported -- a disgrace,"which can be an exciting statement for any gay activist to hear.

Some responses from the public are just as ignorant as Mohammed’s actions. On The New York Post Web site were comments such as “Mohamed, You're the man!" and "Ride the gay taxi next time if you're not happy. A bunch of AIDs breeders."

But there has been an equal amount of public support towards Bruno and Ruales on their fight to receive a public apology from Mohammed.

Bruno and Ruales are not looking for Mohammed, who is expecting his
first child next month, to lose his job or have to pay a fine, all they request is a simple apology for Mohammed’s act of discrimination, an apology Mohammed is not willing to give.

There are no better words to describe these situations better than Paul Bruno when he said “[Mohammed is] in the wrong place and in the wrong line of work if he doesn't have an open and tolerant attitude. I've seen a lot more go on in taxis than hugging."