Two young men who were part of a delegation of Contra Costa Young Democrats attending this past weekend's state party convention at the Moscone Center were assaulted outside a SoMa bar early Sunday and called homophobic slurs.

The incident happened just before 1 a.m. Saturday outside Southside Spirit House on the 500 block of Howard Street, and police arrived to find a 23-year-old man and a 21-year-old man who had been hit, one of them bleeding heavily, after allegedly being accosted by a 27-year-old suspect who was detained nearby.

As NBC Bay Area reports, the suspect was identified as Griffin Murray, and he was cited for two counts of misdemeanor battery and released. Per the Chronicle, one of the victims was a democratic party delegate and the other was a member of California Young Democrats.

Because the suspect yelled a homophobic epithet before slapping one of the victims and then beating the other bloody, the SFPD is investigating this as a hate crime. The 21-year-old victim was taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries, and was later released.

Jonathan Bash, president of the Contra Costa Young Democrats, tells NBC Bay Area that a group had gathered at the bar after the convention, and that the two victims, "felt safe and at a Democratic event in SF, one of the most forward thinking cities in the country, and still they weren't safe."

Tiffany Woods, co-chair of the California Democratic Party LGBT caucus, gave a statement to the Chronicle saying, "We call on the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco District Attorney to fully investigate and prosecute this violence for what it is: a homophobic assault and battery."

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