disneydream06

So Gays really are the new Blacks..........

Driver Demands Gay Couple Sit at the Back of the Bus
by Steve W.

Musician Ari Gold (pictured above) this week alleged that he and his boyfriend were told by a Short Line bus driver to sit at the back of the bus because they were holding hands, behavior that prompted the bus driver to halt the journey and call the police over their so-called offensive behavior.

The incident is reported to have occurred this past Sunday while Gold was on a journey to Catskills to visit his parents.

The story first came to light when Gold took to his own Facebook page to write about the still developing situation.

He wrote: ”The driver on the shortline bus just called the NY state trooper +pulled over cuz I was holding hands w/ a man in the front seet. [--July 10 at 9:16pm]”

Gold later explained what happened to Michael Mutso over at the Village Voice:

“The driver told us if we wanted to continue sitting together, we had to sit in the back.”

[Gold refused.]

Frustrated, the driver called for a New York state trooper!

“Then he pulled over,” says Gold. “The state trooper came and asked what the problem is, and he said that the way were were sitting was making him uncomfortable and he wanted us off the bus.

“The trooper said nothing was illegal and he needs to continue to drive.”

The officers then exited the bus without further comment and allowed the driver to continue the rest of the journey, however Gold believes that the officers acted irresponsibly in “leaving ours and the other passengers safety in the hands of a dissatisfied, discriminatory, and mad driver.”

George Grieve, president of Hudson Transit Lines Inc. of which Short Line is a brand name, subsequently contacted Michael Mutso with a response to these allegations:

I wanted to assure you and your readers that we do not condone or endorse the actions taken by this one driver. His actions are not representative of the management of our Company.

“We will continue to investigate this incident until we are sure we have all the facts at which time we will take the appropriate disciplinary and remedial action. We apologize for the insensitive action of our driver and can assure you we will take the necessary steps to make sure this does not happen again.”

The Advocate also reports that a fellow passenger has now come forward to corroborate Gold’s version of events, albeit with a minor addition.

The two men who were seated next to one another near the front of the bus, holding hands and listening to music on a shared iPod, soon caught the attention of the allegedly homophobic driver. The man demanded that the couple move to the back of the bus. And when Gold refused, the driver pulled over and called police.

Fortunately another passenger offered to be a witness for Gold and Nelson, and The Advocate has exclusively corroborated the men’s story with Florence Mattersdorfer of Livingston Manner, NY. Mattersdorfer says she and her husband have been longtime advocates of LGBT equality, and so she was disturbed by the way Gold and Nelson were treated. She says it was completely without provocation.

“It was certainly unprovoked in my opinion and it was [due to the driver's] personal bias,” Mattersdorfer says. “He was offended by them. And I don’t believe that had it been a man and a woman he would have made an issue out of it because they were not doing anything at all that was inappropriate in my opinion.”

Mattersdorfer does reveal that, besides holding hands and listening to music, Gold had his leg wrapped over Nelson’s, which Gold later confirmed.

You can read a full interview with Gold over at The Advocate where he details step by step what happened.

Ari Gold has said that would like to see Short Line make a commitment that drivers undergo sensitivity training. He also hints that he believes police did not act appropriately.

Recent Facebook postings suggest he may be contacting Lambda Legal regarding a potential lawsuit.