Jake Nolan and his partner John live in the historic, quiet, tree-lined neighborhood of Anaheim.
For Pride Month, they put a rainbow flag up in front of their home, and Nolan said that Saturday morning, they noticed it was on the ground.
He tells KNX News' Emily Valdez, "We assumed, oh, maybe because it was a little windy, maybe the wind just knocked it off or maybe the hardware gave way."
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After taking a closer look, they realized the flag had a large cut mark in it.
Security video shows two men walking on the sidewalk at about 2:00 in the morning when one of them sees the pride flag, heads straight for it, pulls out a knife, and cuts the flag down the middle, tearing it off the flagpole.
Nolan said the man can be heard mumbling something that sounds like a slur and then takes off. "The motion was hateful, and what they were saying was hateful," he said.
Jake and John put up a new pride flag, and several neighbors also put up flags in support.
Police in Orange County have confirmed that they are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
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