“A goth who leads his girlfriend around with a dog lead and collar was stopped from getting on a bus amid fears for passenger safety, a bus firm confirmed. Dani Graves, 25, and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, 19, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, claim they have been discriminated against by bus firm Arriva Yorkshire. The black-clad couple said they had been told to leave one bus and prevented from boarding another. The bus firm said safety came first, but it was investigating the complaint. Mr Graves told BBC Look North: ‘We’re used to strange looks, we’re used to comments. But we didn’t expect it from someone like that. They’re providing a public service. We had our bus passes, we did everything that you are supposed to do to get on a bus.’ Miss Maltby said she came up with the idea to wear a dog lead, and said previous boyfriends had called her a ‘weirdo’ when she suggested it. The couple said they ‘loved each other to pieces’ and the use of the lead was a ’sign of trust’. Mr Graves said: ‘She’s very animal like, she’s kind of like a pet, as well as a partner.’ He said he ‘does everything’ for his girlfriend, including laying out clothes for her, feeding her and cleaning their house. He said: ‘You wouldn’t expect your cat or dog to do the washing up or cleaning round the house.’” — BBC (UK)

(Thanks to Angela for the link.)

A number of newspapers featured photographs of the young couple. The BBC opted to show Ms. Maltby being taken for a walk. The Sun did an insane spread of photos showing Ms. Maltby on all fours, eating supper (with knife and fork like a human), going to the post office, playing “off the leash” in a park. The Daily Mail did a profile of Ms. Maltby, who told a reporter “I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life. I don’t cook or clean and I don’t go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It’s my culture and my choice. It isn’t hurting anyone.”

Meanwhile the bus company is trying to spin the whole thing. Clearly the young couple ran into a cantankerous driver who thought their lifestyle was offensive. Evidently he told them he wasn’t allowing “freaks and dogs like you” on his bus. The bus company, probably anxious to avoid a lawsuit, is making the dubious claim that the driver simply feared for his passengers’ safety. No, he didn’t think the young Goths were terrorists. Rather, “it could be dangerous for the couple and other passengers if a driver had to brake sharply while Miss Maltby was wearing the lead.” Um, right. The bus driver had no way of knowing that her leash wasn’t made of, gosh, razor wire. What if she slipped and decapitated a few grandmothers?

The astonishing thing in the whole story is that the press has bee relatively supportive of the young couple. Typically you don’t expect the mainstream or the tabloid press to show anything but incomprehension toward a BDSM lifestyle, but somehow the mutual devotion of Ms. Maltby and her fiancé seems to have won them over. You think it’s because their choice subtly reaffirms the most traditional gender roles? The man is in charge, the woman is submissive (by choice, of course). Do you think the press would react any differently if it were a woman leading a younger man around on a leash?

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