SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK
A Muslim cab driver has been ordered to pay a lesbian couple $10,000 in damages after he told them to stop kissing in the back of his taxi, according to American media reports published Sunday.
Mohammed Dahbi told actress Kassie Thornton and her TV executive partner Christy Spitzer to ‘keep that behaviour for the bedroom’, the reports said. He warned that if they ignored his request, he would throw them out, according to the reports.
When they got out, Dahbi also reportedly called them ‘whores’ after they refused to pay the fare and walked away.
He claimed during the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings they were ‘touching each other all over’ and ‘kissing heavily’.
But, according to the reports, Judge John Spooner disagreed and ordered him to pay the fine.  He also made him attend anti-discrimination training and pay a $5,000 civil penalty to the city.
Ms Spitzer told DNA info website: ‘We felt that what happened to us was wrong and he needed to take responsibility for his actions.’ She said he was discriminating against them because they were gay.
The two insist it was just a peck on the lips. Spizter told the news website she knew this because she had just been to the dentist.
Dahbi’s lawyer, Ali Najmi said he had never mentioned anything about the pair’s sexuality and has a ‘standard of decency’. They are now planning to appeal the decision.
In a statement on his firm’s website, he said: ‘We will be pursuing an appeal of this decision. The Administrative Judge acted unreasonably and made conclusions of fact that cannot be substantiated based on the record. The fine amount is completely unfair given that there was no real injury here.’