FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police are trying to determine if two gay men who said they were beaten because of their sexual orientation are victims of the same attacker.

According to one man who asked not to be identified, he was attacked while riding his bicycle near the intersection of Northeast 8th Avenue and 7th Street April 5. He said he rode past a man walking a pit bull when the man made a sexually derogatory remark and then attacked him.

"He came up behind me and kickboxed me in the neck," said the alleged victim. "I let the bike go down and I stepped back, and as I stepped back he had his dog, and he was telling his dog, 'Get him. Get him.' And the dog just kind of looked up at him like, 'Why? He didn't do anything.'"

After calling police on his cell phone, the alleged victim said, a white car drove by and tried to run him down.

"I was standing on the side of the road at that point and the car was in the right lane, but it came right at me," he said. "And the kid in the car, whoever he was, had the window down. He was screaming at me and I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying at that point."

Fort Lauderdale police said it is that white car that might link the alleged attack to another a few hours later outside of Johnny's, a gay bar on Broward Boulevard.

Police said four or five men in a white car offered a slightly intoxicated bar patron a ride home.

"(They) drove him to the area of Victoria Park, where he was taken out of the vehicle, removed from the vehicle forcibly," Detective Bruce Brittenum said. "He was beaten up and some money was taken."

Police have not confirmed that the two alleged incidents are related, but Brittenum noted similarities and said rumors throughout the gay community of gay men being targeted is an issue police are taking seriously.

"Because of it being a possible hate crime, it's something that needs to be addressed immediately," said Brittenum. "The department has not hesitated in any way on getting right into this and trying to do the best job we can."