On Thursday October 20, 18-year-old Chanel Santini, a professional transgender model from Las Vegas was in Houston catching a ride from Bush Intercontinental Airport to her hotel when she was kicked out by her Uber driver for her sexual and gender preferences.
Sexually harassed
Early Thursday morning the Uber driver picked Santini up from the airport and immediately began questioning her; starting with offending her by asking if she was a stripper.
From that point on, the driver’s demeanor changed and he began disrespecting Santini with verbally abusive comments, telling her that she sounded like a man and that she had a body of a man. Unfortunately, her ride didn't end at her proposed destination, but instead with the Uber driver kicking her out at a random gas station and then chucking her purse and luggage at her through the window. All due to her being transgender, she was now standing alone in the early morning stranded in a city completely unknown to her.
Uber’s anti-discrimination policy
KPRC Channel 2 News investigators contacted Uber on Sunday, October 23 reporting the case that left Chanel Santini distraught.
Kayla Whaling, a representative of Uber, responded with, “We have a strict policy prohibiting discrimination of any kind on the Uber platform and will not tolerate the behavior that has been described here."
While being interviewed with Channel 2 News, Santini stated that she believes the Uber driver shouldn’t be allowed employment anywhere if he is going to be discriminatory towards people.
Bill Spencer, the live news reporter on this case, tracked down that specific Uber driver on Sunday night. The driver chose not to be interviewed and did not believe that he did or said anything wrong.
Transgender discrimination
Santini, along with many others, has worked extremely hard at becoming comfortable with who she is.
This is not the first case where transgender women and men have been victims of discrimination. Every week the LGBTQ community faces discrimination for their sexual and gender identity preferences. These issues confronting America are continuing to divide its people.