NEW ORLEANS — A gay activist in New Orleans says somebody tore a rainbow flag from his balcony and spray-painted a slur on the house he and his partner share.

Police say they and the FBI are investigating the vandalism early Saturday as a hate crime.

Sixty-eight-year-old John Hill says a neighbor got surveillance video of the vandal, but it doesn't show the man's face.

Hill is an equal rights activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. He says he thinks he may have been targeted because he wrote an opinion piece in a newspaper saying Louisiana is still hostile toward gays.

Police have the video up on YouTube and are asking the public to help identify the man.