Singer Ari Gold told the Village Voice's Michael Musto that a Shortline bus driver instructed him to move to the back of the bus for holding hands with another man because it was "making him uncomfortable".
"The driver told us if we wanted to continue sitting together, we had to sit in the back."
The driver apparently called for a state trooper who saw nothing wrong with what Gold and his hand-holding friend were doing.
Gold made an announcement to the other passengers, explaining that they had been pulled over to wait for the state trooper because he was holding hands with a man.
Gold said he will be filing charges, but writes this update on his Facebook page:
"Haven't reached anyone from Shortline yet-I'll call Lamda Legal to see if there's any action to take or at least make sure Shortline gives better employee training. I stood up to the driver despite my racing heart, I can only imagine what that might have done to someone who couldn't."
UPDATE: A reader received the following statement from Shortline regarding the incident.
To All: Please see the below response to Mr. Musto of the Village Voice from our President, George Grieve.
Mr. Musto: I wanted get back to you regarding the incident on one of the Shortline buses. I happen to be on vacation this week but I saw your e-mail and I wanted to make sure you got a response. I am the president of Hudson Transit Lines, Inc. which is the company known as Shortline. 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.
George Grieve / President / Hudson Transit Lines, Inc.
