The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activist organization Queer Liberation Front and their supporters marched down Main Street to Javapalooza this Sunday to protest the alleged Dec. 18 assault of an 18-year-old male by the coffee shop’s owner, Neil Dinerman. At the rally, students carried signs and chanted, “Queer students are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and participated in a teach-in at the coffee shop. Reports indicate that Dinerman removed the young man from the establishment by force, shouting inflammatory, anti-gay slurs at him as he left.

According to Dinerman, the incident occurred when the young man entered the coffee shop with two friends, holding a drink from Dunkin’ Donuts.

“Whenever I see people come in as they did that night with outside drinks or beverages, I ask them to leave nicely, of course at first,” he said. “They drank that Dunkin’ Donuts and then they laughed in my face. And that’s when I started getting more mad, just to get them out of this place. I’m sure I used indefensible and inexcusable language. I was frustrated.”

According to the mother of the young man, who wishes to remain anonymous upon the request of her son, Dinerman grabbed her son’s shirt and shouted at him, then proceeded to follow him out of the coffee shop yelling obscenities.

When asked if he had any physical contact with the young man, however, Dinerman responded, “I don’t think so at all.”

Dinerman said that he was unaware of the young man’s sexual orientation at the time, and said that his remarks, which included anti-gay slurs, were coincidental.

“[The words] just as easily could have been scumbag, asshole, whatever…I’m sure it was hurtful to him and I’m really sorry about that,” Dinerman said.

Queer Liberation Front organizer and Central Connecticut State University student Aaron McAuliffe said that the group decided to organize the teach-in after the young man’s mother was put in contact with the Hartford-based queer advocacy organization True Colors. The alleged victim’s mother said she contacted True Colors after she was disappointed by the lack of support she received from the Connecticut Commission of Human Rights and Opportunities and Mayor Sebastian Giuliano. She said she was also frustrated by the Middletown Police Department’s (MPD) refusal to release records about past complaints against Dinerman to the Department of Consumer Protection, citing the department as a third party source.

According to McAuliffe, the teach-in was intended as an educational forum on LGBT rights.

“We feel as though when one of us is hurt or attacked, all of us are hurt or attacked,” McAuliffe said. “I think a good way to arm a queer person with intellectual self-defense is to give them a straight-forward educational conversation about what their legal rights are.”

The organization also demanded a written apology from Dinerman and a donation of $1,000 to True Colors as a show of good will to the community, according to McAuliffe.

Dinerman said Monday that he was in the process of completing the written apology, and that the group would receive a donation from him.

“I will work out something where I pay them more than a thousand, but on a weekly basis,” Dinerman said. “I don’t have a thousand dollars right now. And I’m not letting any of my friends pay for it. Because it is sort of tantamount to bribery, or blackmail as they call it. But I’m not going to file a blackmail complaint.”

Queer Liberation Front organizer and Southern Connecticut State student Al Riccio said the group considered a boycott of the establishment, but that they were concerned about the implications of such an action on the store’s employees.

“We don’t want to disenfranchise the workers,” Riccio said. “We don’t want anybody getting laid off as a result of our actions. We don’t want people to not get promoted or not get a wage increase because we cut off means for the business to get by.”

Riccio however, did not entirely rule out the implementation of a boycott in the future.

“The possibility of a boycott might come up, but we are going to weigh that option very carefully,” Riccio said. “I would say almost certainly if the owner of this establishment engaged in a hate crime or similar behavior again; I don’t want to say absolutely.”

Dinerman said that the recent events have had no negative impact on business, and that he supports the teach-in, though he was unable to attend.

“From what the group explained to me on Saturday, it sounded like a good thing,” he said. “My place is certainly open to them to have events here on a regular basis.”

Charlie Smith, who identifies himself as a silent business partner and friend of Dinerman, spoke on his behalf at the teach-in.

“I want you guys to feel welcome here at any time for anything,” Smith told the crowd.

The teach-in, which was primarily student organized, was attended by a handful of Wesleyan students.

“I came down to show solidarity for fellow queers,” said Sarah Lamming ’13. “I’m really impressed by how much organizing has happened around this issue, mostly by other universities.”

The young man’s mother said she was grateful to the organizers and attendees of the event.

“Thank you [to the Queer Liberation Front] for what they’re doing,” she said. “It makes me cry, such an outpouring really of love and understanding for my son.”

Smith expressed support for the organization.

“[Dinerman] needs to watch his verbiage a little bit more, but he realizes what happened was wrong,” Smith told The Argus. “We support [the Queer Liberation Front] and that’s why we opened the business to them today.”

This article was updated on February 1.