Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel, NBC6.net
WILTON MANORS -- Vandals spray-painted anti-gay slurs on three homes and a car early this morning, police say.

The incidents in this Broward County suburb are being investigated as a hate crime, police spokesman David Jones said.

Wilton Manors is considered a gay-friendly neighborhood, Sun Sentinel reports, and has a significant gay population. An estimated 40 percent of its residents are gay, according to census data.

Jones said this is the first time this kind of vandalism has happened in the area and it appears to be random.

The words "gay" and "fag" were painted on the houses and a car. Three other cars were streaked with spray paint.

"Atrocious crimes like these underscore the need for strong hate crimes legislation," said Brandon Hensler, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida's LGBT Advocacy Project. "We have worked hard to build a more tolerant community and this highlights the need for more public education to work toward a less hate-filled environment."

Wayne Holbert's home appeared to be the first one vandalized. It had the darkest graffiti. The black color starts to fade with the second and third homes.

Holbert is heterosexual and lives with a female partner.

"Obviously, they didn't do their research," Holbert said.

"We are surrounded by a bad element. They'll cruise here on their way in, they'll do it on their way out. We can't afford security guards," Holbert said.

He tried to take off the paint from his beige wall with a can of graffiti remover, but it didn't work because it also removed the original paint. The other residents, who are gay, tried with little success to remove the paint using bug and tar remover.

"It's a hate crime. The word is very clear in four places," said John Heseltine, a retired school administrator who woke up to find the word "gay" scrawled four feet across his white front door.

Heseltine spent the day cleaning up the spray-paint on his house, door and car.

"This person or persons must really hate themselves so badly that they have to go out and do hateful things to total strangers that they’ve never met," Heseltine said.

Heseltine is questioning the purpose for the attack and said some of the residents whose homes were vandalized are gay.

While Heseltine didn’t enjoy cleaning up the mess, he said he feels sorry for the person responsible.

"In 65 years, I've learned anger doesn’t help at all," he said. "That will take away from me. I will get ill. I will accomplish nothing. Basically I felt sad all day, sad for the person that hated themself so much that they would go out and do hateful things. I hope they find help."

Full article: 3 homes, 1 car spray painted with anti-gay messages in Wilton Manors | -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Anti-Gay Slurs Spray-Painted On Homes In Wilton Manors | NBC 6.net