Forward: I am sending this out not as an accusation, but as a cautionary tale. VCF East was amazing and the wonderful folks at VCF East and VCF Mid-Atlantic had nothing to do with this. That being said, this almost happened to my co-exhibitors and myself after we left the event and I dont know what I can do about it other than warn everybody else.On Sunday, my 2.5 co-exhibitors and myself were some of the last to leave InfoAge, and went out for a celebratory dinner. We've all been a little "homeless" since the traditional VCF Mid-Atlantic haunt closed this winter, and I find The Brickhouse too TV intensive for dinner, and try to stick to locally owned places if I can. I suggested Kelly's in Neptune as that was one of the places that VCF Mid-Atlantic tried out when looking for a new go-to dinner place last year.I didnt notice much of anything at the time, and the full details didnt come to light until two of my co-exhibitors exchanged stories after we had safely returned home to Connecticut. But when they did, a disturbing picture emerged. On the way in, we passed a larger white gentleman wearing a black hoodie with white American flag and other symbols on it. I didnt register this, but he seemed to clock that at least one member of my group was Transgender. We were entering in single-file; when he encountered the last person in our line he made an attempt to body slam her against the wall. She dodged him and said "Hi, how are you doing?" as she walked past him. Since we were walking in single file, she was the only one that saw this, and she didn't say anything to the rest of our group.During the meal, at least one couple at the bar glared at us while we ate, while the manager made a harried attempt to check in on us. Everything was uneventful otherwise, excepting the chef having no idea that corned beef and cabbage is supposed to be serverd brisket style. At least they knew how to clean their taps.Our unofficial third co-presenter is an infosec specialist and has trained themself to take operational security very seriously; whenever they enter a room or a parking lot or whatever, they scan for possible threats. They were also our driver that night. They left the restaraunt first and noticed two large men with black hoodies standing behind a pickup truck, talking and smoking cigarettes. When the more obviously transgender members of our party came out, they noticed the two men nod at each other, throw away their cigarettes and get into their truck. We made it into our car and they pretended to mess with the GPS while noting that the truck just sat idling. When we started to back out, they noticed the truck turn its brake lights on. We pulled out and the truck followed us. We drove to 35 and Belmar Avenue and then blew through the yield, allowing for a car coming out of the QuickCheck to get between us and the truck. Then we were able to lose the tail.Because the person in my party who almost got body checked and the person driving our car chose not to talk about it, we didnt realize until dinner back in Connecticut that this had happened. Also, the description that one person gave of "body check man" matched the description the other person gave of one of the pickup truck men.The purpose of this story is to document what happened to us on Sunday night following VCF East, and to also let the VCF Mid-Atlantic community know of the kind of people who patron Kelly's in Neptune.Yours always,Dan FitzGeraldSent via the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone