Lucy Thomas and her girlfriend were hoping for a quiet end to their evening when they jumped in an Uber in the inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood on Saturday night, instead they copped an offensive rant from their driver.
The same-sex couple had finished up dinner with friends on Smith St when they hailed the car.
What began with small talk about their plans to watch the footy the next day quickly turned sour when the driver said “he hated football because it was a bunch of ‘faggots’ jumping around and touching each other,” before diverging into a “cheerful” rant on the subject.
“I said ‘I understand the spirit of what you just said but the word faggot is deeply offensive to me, to people I know and to my generation’,” Lucy, a writer and co-founder of anti-bullying organisation Project Rockit, told Mamamia.
She said the driver wasn’t swayed by her comment, however, and proceeded to spout several more examples of derogatory words he didn’t have any qualms in using.
“He then asked us,’why are you worried, are you gay?'”
Lucy told him it was “irrelevant” but her girlfriend, Chelsea, confirmed they were a couple.
Lucy and Chelsea at Sydney Mardi Gras. Source: Twitter
"The mood of the conversation shifted," Lucy said. "He obviously hadn't realised we were same-sex attracted because we don’t look the part."
She said he suddenly became "very threatening and aggressive," which is when she pulled out her phone and hit the 'record' button.
Listen to the full clip here:
After asking him to justify his use of offensive terms like 'faggot', he responded he could say say anything he liked and was prepared to "suffer the consequences".
"What are you going to give me a one rating and make a complaint? And when I write my report about two faggots who don't like being called faggots then what are they gonna say?"