ATLANTA -- Atlanta police are investigating an assault that happened outside a popular gay bar in midtown Atlanta. Police said the victim was beaten so badly he had to go to the hospital. Officials are investigating if he may have been targeted because he is gay.

The incident happened on 10th Street when the victim was walking from Blake’s toward the MARTA station when he said two men approached him at 10 p.m. Sunday.

“We haven’t heard of it happening at all. We pride ourselves in this community that people can be themselves, they can be who they are,” Philip Rafshoon with Outwrite Bookstore told Channel 2 Action News reporter John Bachman.

That all changed, according to one account of what happened Sunday. Atlanta police said a man was beaten up outside Blake’s. The victim told a friend that he was leaving the popular bar when two men approached him and said hello. He said, ‘Hi,’ and then they asked him if he was gay. He said, ‘Yes,’ and that’s when he said they began punching and kicking him.

“We know there are people out there who don’t like gays and lesbians for whatever reason and we hope that we’re not seeing the flood gates open…where people start committing a lot of crimes against gays and lesbians,” said Rafshoon.

Rafshoon owns Outwrite Bookstore and the beating happened near the store. If the victim was targeted because he is gay, Rafshoon said the whole community will demand justice.

"It's critical that we find the people who did this. It's also another reason we need a Hate Crimes Bill in the state of Georgia. There is none now, and we need to send the message to people that they're not going to get a scare and they're going to get caught,” said Rafshoon.