Activists Planning 'Kissing Protest' at Restaurant Where Gay Man Was Allegedly Assaulted

Local LGBTQ+ activists in Washington, D.C. are reportedly planning a "kissing protest" at a local Shake Shack after a gay man was allegedly attacked by as many as five employees at the restaurant.

As reported by the Washington Blade, a gay man said he and his partner were assaulted by workers at the Dupont Circle restaurant on Aug. 17 after they kissed while waiting for their food order.

D.C. police and the Office of the U.S. Attorney say they are still investigating the incident as a suspected hate crime, but so far no arrests have been announced. A video of the assault was reportedly captured by the restaurant's cameras.

D.C. resident Joey Minervini told the Washington Blade that he staged his own one-person protest on Aug. 20 with chalk drawings that said "KISS HERE" and included rainbow flags.

According to Minervini, he made the drawings around 4 a.m. and learned that they were washed away prior to Shake Shack's opening at 10 a.m.

D.C. resident Christian Dingus told the Blade the attack against him came after he tried to defuse an argument between his partner and one of the Shake Shack employees who told the two men not to kiss each other. Dingus said it started inside the Shake Shack and moved out a side door where several employees knocked him down onto the sidewalk and repeatedly punched him.

The incident was captured on video taken by another Shake Shack customer on their cell phone, which has been posted on social media. Although the faces of the attackers and of Dingus and his partner cannot be clearly seen in the video, it provides a dramatic view of a man being attacked and assaulted by several individuals dressed in Shake Shack uniforms.

A D.C. police report says one of the alleged attackers identified only as Suspect 1 told police that Dingus, who is identified in the report as Victim 1, "placed his hands" on the suspect's neck. "Suspect 1 advised that he was defending himself," the report says.

Dingus called that claim a complete falsehood, saying he never touched any of the employees who attacked him. He told the Blade he raised his arm and pointed at the employees who were confronting his partner, calling on them to "leave him alone."

In response to a request by the Blade for comment, Shake Shack released a statement saying the company was cooperating with the police investigation and it has "suspended the team members involved pending further review." The statement did not say how many employees were suspended but added that the company has "a zero-tolerance policy for any form of violence."

Minervini said he contacted D.C.'s Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C. LGBTQ+ Pride events, to join him in organizing his proposed "kissing" protest at Shake Shack. He said he agreed to Capital Pride's suggestion to hold off on setting a date for the protest, which Minervini initially set for Sept. 7, until more information could be learned about the details of the incident.