Gay couple ditched at an intersection after their Lyft driver spots them kissing in the backseat.

A young gay couple said they were kicked out of their Lyft ride when the driver saw them kiss in the back seat.

 The couple — Butler University rising sophomore Ben Martella and Purdue University rising junior Alec Jansen — said the incident occurred on May 5 around 5pm, when they were picked up by a Lyft driver on Butler's Indianapolis, Indiana, campus.

Martella and Jansen were about halfway to their Broad Ripple destination, about a three-mile distance away from campus, when they said they kissed.

'We basically pecked' on the lips, Martella told the IndyStar, noting that the kiss was 'nothing out of the ordinary.'

Martella said that the driver, who was not named, saw them kiss in his rear view mirror and started yelling at them.

The driver said, '"I’m going to end your ride. I can’t have that in my car. I don’t have that here,"' according to Martella, who said that he was upset by the driver's alleged reaction because it 'was a big reaction for such a small display of affection between two guys.'

The driver then demanded that Martella and Jansen get out of the car at an intersection.
Martella said he notified Lyft about the incident and that the ride share company refunded them the cost of the aborted ride.

In an email, a company employee stated that 'the appropriate and necessary actions' regarding the reported incident had been taken, but declined to detail what had actually been done.

Martella said that he would like the Lyft driver, an independent contractor, removed from the company's driver roster, considering the company's non-discrimination policy which covers sexual orientation.

When reached by the IndyStar, a Lyft spokesperson said that the driver had been 'deactivated,' meaning that he cannot use Lyft to pick up passengers.
Martella said that he is considering taking additional action, potentially going to Indiana's ACLU.  

'I don’t know if that’s the right path to take,' Martella admitted. 'There's really nothing I need out of the situation. It’s my fear for others.'

Jansen told the IndyStar that he 'just came out a couple months ago' and that 'this is the first time I've had any sort of discrimination.'

Although Indiana does not have a state law protecting people's civil rights based on sexual orientation, the city of Indianapolis does have a non-discrimination ordinance that 'it has the power to enforce,' Indiana University Maurer School of Law associate professor Steve Sanders said.

The ordinance applies to the acquisition of real estate, employment, public education and 'public accommodations,' the latter category of which the Lyft ride potentially falls under.  
Lyft has been named in a number of discrimination lawsuits within the past year.

In September, two male passengers filed a lawsuit stating that their Lyft driver pulled a gun on them and used a homophobic slur before forcing them to get out of her car.
And in December, a California transgender woman sued the company, claiming that two different Lyft drivers refused to transport her.