Uber driver reports gay dads for child trafficking because their baby ‘didn’t have a mother’
(ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)
An Uber driver accused a same-sex couple of trafficking a child because their baby “did not have a mother”.
Service designer James Moed was in the back of a cab with his husband and son on January 29 in the San Diego area, on their way to their hotel.
Checking-into the Marriott Marina, law enforcement knocked on the door of his and his partner’s hotel room at 1.30am the following morning demanding to see their identification documents.
Including their son’s passport.
Uber driver allegedly reported a gay couple for ‘trafficking’ their own child.
“”It turns out the Uber driver who had taken us to the hotel had called the cops – accusing us of child trafficking? Endangerment?” he wrote in a Twitter thread.
“The same Uber driver who told us our crying baby needed his mother.”
Moed said the driver “didn’t back down when we tried to explain that our son has two dads”.
It turns out the @Uber driver who had taken us to the hotel had called the cops – accusing us of.. child trafficking? endangerment?
— James Moed (@jamesmoed) February 5, 2020
The run-in with San Diego Police Department officers mired their first day in the city; the couple “freaked out” all night.
“Where can my queer family travel safely?” he desperately asked.
Stayed awake freaking out – what if we hadn’t had his passport? ..the cops had been less agreeable? Where can my #queerfamily travel safely?— James Moed (@jamesmoed) February 5, 2020
App gives couple a refund, but they have demanded an apology.
They wrote a letter to the fair-hailing app, where the “algorithm”, Moed said, issued the couple a $10 refund and an automated letter.
“Keep your $10,” Moed said, “we want proof that you keep #LGBTQ riders safe from homophobic drivers.”
Spoke to @Uber_Support. Requested apology from the driver (not his dismissal) + evidence of LGBTQ sensitivity training program. Awaiting response.— James Moed (@jamesmoed) February 5, 2020
Moed said he spoke to the Uber support team and “requested an apology from the driver”, but specified to the company that he does not wish for the driver to be dismissed.
While company administrators have introduced countless measures to increase the safety of fair riders, studies and anecdotes paint a worrying trend among LGBT+ users.
Some users have detailed experiences where they were told not to kiss their same-sex partner, while one study found that, overwhelmingly, queer riders were often cancelled on by drivers no matter the star rating.
In a study of 3,200 journeys, they determined that the LGBT+ or ally “customers” were canceled on almost twice as much as those without a rainbow flag emoji by their profile display names.
PinkNews contacted Uber, and a spokesperson said: “No family should ever experience discrimination.
“As soon as we learned of this incident we launched an investigation.
“Our Community Guidelines make clear that we do not tolerate discrimination.”
