ALAMO, Calif. – BJ Byrd, a physical education teacher at Rancho Romero Elementary School who is a lesbian, says she was the target of graffiti vandals.

Byrd told authorities that she found the anti-gay graffiti written in pencil or pen on an equipment shed on campus on Jan. 3, and she spoke about the vandalism at a meeting of the school board this week.

The graffiti specifically named her and contained an anti-gay slur, description of a sexual act and an expletive.

The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department says the vandalism is a hate crime but has not identified any suspects.

WILTON MANORS, Fla. -- The sister of one of the two men murdered in Wilton Manors on Christmas weekend says the killings were a hate crime.

Crystal Kicklighter, sister of Kevin Powell, who along with longtime partner Steve Adams was found murdered inside Powell's home on Dec. 26, spoke with NBC Miami from her home in Georgia. She'd just returned from South Florida after coming here following her brother's murder.

Kicklighter believes Powell and Adams were tortured by a man who had just moved in to help with work around the house.

FLUSHING, N.Y. -- When Deborah Lolai first saw the messages of hate, she started bawling.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, homophobic messages defaced student artwork in a club for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth in the Student Union building at Queens College.

Lolai, president of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance (GLASA), saw the words “fag,” “dyke” and others unfit for print written in her place of solace. For many LGBT students at the college, GLASA is the safe haven where they can be themselves.

WASHINGTON -- High-profile attorney Gloria Allred is pushing for a federal hate crime investigation in the murder of Brian Betts.

Betts was a beloved principal at Shaw Middle School in the District of Columbia. He was murdered inside his Silver Spring, Md., home in April.
Alante Saunders, 19, plead guilty last month to killing Betts after meeting him on a gay chat website. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with the possibility for parole after 20.