Growing Support for New Mexico Couple Targeted for Hate 

An outpouring of support for an Albuquerque couple targeted by antigay vandals has helped them reach their modest goal to raise enough money to cover expenses for their damaged cars.

Tommy Sloan, who is an out trans man, and his boyfriend, Jesus Martinez, created an online fundraiser after the third in a series of attacks on their cars. Sloan said he believes someone poured bleach in the gas tanks.

"Someone had actually taken a tool and ripped open my gas tank to pour bleach in there so my car's engine doesn't even work," Sloan told Alburqueque TV station KOB.

On their CrowdRise page, Martinez wrote the latest attack came two days after his partner's top surgery. He tells The Advocate in an email they're sure they're being targeted because they're gay.

"Tommy passes as a CIS [non-trans] male so none of the neighbors know about his trans status. We don't think these are randoms attacks or teenagers since no one else on our street has had their cars vandalized. We also do not believe it's a neighbor because we feel like the attacks would be more often."

In the KOB report, Sloan noted that the first time vandals struck was last November. He said someone slashed the tires of both cars parked outside their apartment, and also keyed their cars with homophobic slurs.

"We called the police," Sloan told KOB. "They said it wasn't a hate crime despite the slur. We took care of it. Not a problem. Second time it happened was a few days before Christmas. My tires were slashed again."

With the latest vandalism of their gas tanks, Sloan told the TV station he and his boyfriend are out hundreds of dollars in insurance deductibles, and yet the police still aren't classifying these attacks as acts of hate. "At this point I think it is a hate crime. It's too coincidental because nobody else has been hit on this street. Nobody else has had issues with their cars."

Watch the report from KOB below.