Uber Eats tackles app profile issue that outs trans drivers

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — A civil rights group warned Uber Eats that its app profiles place transgender drivers at risk of harassment and violence, prompting the company to apologize Tuesday to a Kansas man and to resolve issues within the app that outed him.

The move came after American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas released on Tuesday morning a letter it had sent the day earlier to the food delivery service on behalf of Laine Repic, a 41-year-old transgender man in Topeka, Kansas, who has been driving for the company since April.

The ACLU of Kansas contended that Uber Eats has forced Repic to have his app profile display his legal name, which he no longer uses and which does not match his male gender presentation — effectively outing him as transgender. It noted that Repic has experienced harassment and ridicule as a result when he drops off food to customers and has made him fearful for his safety.

“Having to, like, drive around with that name following you everywhere from customers it was nerve racking and it was scary and we shouldn't have to be put in that position — especially when it was such a simple fix,” Repic said Tuesday in a phone interview.

Repic said he reached out to the ACLU because he needed someone who would have his back and Uber didn’t seem to support him.

“While nobody was physically, violently attacking me, these microaggressions they eat at you over and over and over again... I shouldn't have to tell my life story and I shouldn't have to be forced back into the closet because of that. It wears on you, it's draining, it's tiring, it's demeaning because it's like you are not being taken seriously. Having to fight for your own identity, it absolutely takes a mental toll on you. And this was my breaking point," Repic said,

In an emailed...