Christian Dingus, 28, was with his partner when, he says, employees told the couple not to kiss inside, and the argument escalated outside.

Christian Dingus, 28, was with his partner when, he says, employees told the couple not to kiss inside, and the argument escalated outside.

A gay man accused a group of Washington, D.C., Shake Shack employees of beating him after he kissed his boyfriend inside the location while waiting for their order.

Christian Dingus, 28, was with his partner and a group of friends at a Dupont Circle location Saturday night when the incident occurred, he told NBC News. They had put in their order and were hanging around waiting for their food.

“And while we were back there — kind of briefly — we began to kiss,” Dingus said. “And at that point, a worker came out to us and said that, you know, you can’t be doing that here, can’t do that type of stuff here.”

The couple separated, Dingus said, but his partner got upset at the employee and insisted the men had done nothing wrong. Dingus’ partner was then allegedly escorted out of the restaurant, where a heated verbal argument occurred.

    • samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
      231·
      3 months ago

      Asking them to leave is one thing, but assaulting one of them is inexcusable no matter what they were doing.

            • samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
              132·
              3 months ago

              I guarantee nothing would have been said to begin with if it were a man kissing a woman the same way.

              • Demdaru@lemmy.worldEnglish
                25·
                3 months ago

                …dunno where you live, but if I started going with the tongue with my girl I would 100% get absolutely kicked out of any food place. It’s not a place for that high public display of affection.

                Not saying tho they did that. Just pointing out you’re flat out wrong.

    • Glytch@lemmy.world
      132·
      3 months ago

      My money is also on bigotry, but the way Dingus said “began to kiss” makes me wonder how intense it was. If he’d said “gave my partner a kiss” that’s one thing, but “began to kiss” sounds like it might have been more like “making out” which I don’t want to see anyone doing in a restaurant.

      I’m just speculating and the real answer is probably homophobia, especially given the assault that ensued.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        16·
        3 months ago

        I’m sure the difference is that if it were a hetero couple people might have commented “Get a room!” or something and left it at that, and it wouldn’t have escalated.

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
      94·
      3 months ago

      I think fat people aren’t cool and gross to look at. So i expect that they respect my wish and keep away from me. I don’t care if female or male, because i’m not a bigot.