Arizona Gay couple with four kids have been terrorized in their home for months

This article was originally published on Examiner.com on May 31, 2012.

A happily committed gay couple with four children have been the victims of continuous harassment for over two months at their home in Gilbert, Arizona - which is a predominantly Mormon community.

Felix Bermea, and his partner who wishes to remain anonymous, say enough is enough. Berma says that ‘I truthfully believe it’s because we’re a gay couple and because I am Hispanic. There’s no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this is a hate crime.”

The amount of harassment suffered at the hands of the unknown perpetrators is no short order. It began with the family’s vehicles being defaced with graffiti, along with the street where they were parked.

Then their shrubbery was vandalized, and set a blaze. One which caught fire was very close to their home and was in proximity to burn the entire building down. And finally last week, after two months of methodical harassment, their home was broken into. Azcentral.com reported that some of the children’s bedrooms were vandalized with profanity such as, “bitch”, and “hell.”

The children are now afraid to sleep in their beds. Bermea said that when he spoke to his disabled daughter Friday about the latest incident, that she was ‘shaking in her boots.’

To add insult to injury Bermea and his partner have filed complaints to the police no less than 12 times over the last 10 weeks. That is, on average, a report of harassment once every 5.8 days for two months.

It was not until they contacted the Internal Affairs department that a detective was assigned to their case, and that was just a mere week ago.

The family is fed up, and Felix Bermea fears for the safety of his children. He says, “I want the Gilbert police to feel pressure. You tell me that 10 family members in this neighborhood, if they had banging on the doors, vandalism on the cars, burning bushes, somebody breaking into the house. Tell me if 10 houses had this same incident that this whole neighborhood wouldn’t be up in arms.”

The detective who has been assigned to this case refuses to comment on the investigation. The only official comment recorded by the Gilbert Police Department on the matter is that they are taking the crimes “very seriously.”

After taking 9 weeks to open an investigation with a laundry list of vandalism it is fair to question the sincerity of the police department’s claim.

Only time will tell.