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Local LGBTQ activists are considering staging a kissing protest outside a Shake Shack in Dupont Circle after a group of four or five Shake Shack employees reportedly assaulted a gay man inside the restaurant on August 17 after he was kissing his male partner while waiting for his food order.

D.C. police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have said they are continuing to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime, but have not said if or when they expect to make one or more arrests in the assault, which was recorded on video and witnessed by at least several Shake Shack customers.

Joey Minervini, one of the activists planning the protest, told the Washington Blade that he staged his own solo protest on August 20 by drawing several “Kiss Here” kissing spots in chalk on the sidewalk outside a Shake Shack restaurant, as well as a rainbow flag in chalk.

He said he drew the chalk drawing at about 4 a.m., only to find out it had been washed away before Shake Shack opened at 10 a.m. He provided The Blade with a video of the chalk drawing.

Christian Dingus, 28, of Washington, D.C., told the Blade that Dingus was attacked when he tried to break up an argument between his partner and a Shake Shack employee who told him not to kiss. Dingus said the incident started inside the Shake Shack and went outside through a side door, where several employees knocked Dingus to the sidewalk and punched him multiple times.

The incident was captured on cell phone video taken by another Shake Shack customer and posted to social media. While the faces of the attacker, Dingus and his partner are not clearly visible in the video, it shows shocking scenes of several uniformed male Shake Shack employees attacking and assaulting the man.

According to the D.C. police report, one of the assailants, identified only as Suspect 1, told police that Dingus, identified in the report as Victim 1, “put his hands” around the suspect’s neck. “Suspect 1 stated he was defending himself,” the report states.

Dingus said the allegations were completely false and that he never confronted any of the employees who attacked him. He told the Blade that he raised his arms, pointed at the employees who were confronting his partner and told them to “leave me alone.”

In response to The Blade’s request for comment, Shake Shack released a statement saying the company is cooperating with the police investigation and “has suspended the team members involved pending further investigation.” The statement did not disclose how many employees had been suspended, but added that the company has a “zero tolerance policy toward violence in any form.”

Minervini said he reached out to DC’s Capital Pride Alliance, the organization that organizes most of DC’s LGBTQ Pride events, to get them to join him in planning the “kiss” protest at Shake Shack. Minervini said he agreed to Capital Pride’s proposal to postpone the protest, originally scheduled for Sept. 7, until more information was known about the details of the incident.

Ashley Smith, president of the Capital Pride Alliance, told the Blade that she and other Capital Pride officials want to receive more information about the incident, including confirmation of whether it was in fact a hate crime, before moving forward with the protest.

“There’s been some indication that there may be more to this than what’s been reported in the news,” Smith said, “so we’re trying to get to the bottom of it and establish the facts.”

Minervini said he was told by Capital Pride Alliance officials that at least one source familiar with the incident said a “lovers’ quarrel” between Dingus and his partner may have sparked the incident and attracted the attention of the Shake Shack employee. Dingus said he and his partner defended each other after the Shake Shack employee instructed them not to kiss.

“I’ve been very forthright with individuals that I’ve been in contact with about whether it was a hate crime or not,” Smith said. “If it was a hate crime, if it’s considered a hate crime, then that’s one response. If it’s not considered a hate crime and it’s something else, then that’s a whole other situation.”

Smith noted that the police report only described the incident as a suspected hate crime and said Capital Pride Alliance wanted more information from police before moving forward with the protest. Minervini said he agreed with that assessment.

Minervini said the protest he and other activists were considering would be called “CHALK,” short for “LGBTQ+ Can Kiss.” He said they would have a DJ play music, such as “Kiss” by the late singer-songwriter Prince, at which point protesters would start kissing.

“They do drugs, they kiss consensually,” Minervini said. “When Prince’s ‘Kiss’ comes on, it signals that it’s OK for people to kiss and to kiss in public.”