A reveler at the official dance party for last weekend's Up Your Alley fair was allegedly robbed and stabbed repeatedly by a group of assailants while he was trying to hail a cab early Sunday morning. San Francisco police believe the attack may have been a hate crime and are seeking the public's help in identifying the suspects.

The victim, a gay man who lives near Sacramento, declined an interview request from the Bay Area Reporter. Police, who declined to release his name, describe him as in his early 30s, about 6 feet 3 inches tall and medium build. He was not dressed in leather gear, and instead the victim had on blue jeans and a green camouflage patterned T-shirt.

According to police, the victim had just left the Bay of Pigs party held at the New York Studio space at 535 York Street in the inner Mission around 3:30 a.m. July 27 and was walking along Mariposa Street when three men, believed to be Asian, assaulted him while three women, also believed to be Asian, watched.

"They punched him; they stabbed him; and they left him for dead," said San Francisco police Inspector Brian Danker.

The suspects stole the victim's wallet, and Danker said he believes they targeted him due to his sexual orientation.

"I do think it is a hate crime. He didn't need to be beaten or stabbed the way he was. No one deserves that," said Danker. "The brutality of the attack is a hate crime; that is my story and I am sticking to it."

The victim was able to make it back to the backdoor exit of the club space at 540 Hampshire Street. The party's security and medical teams provided assistance to the man until an ambulance arrived to take him to San Francisco General Hospital. By Tuesday the man had been released and was said to be in stable condition, recuperating at home.

The party was the official Saturday night dance party for the fair, a leather and fetish event held along Dore Alley south of Market Street. Both the party and the fair are produced by Folsom Street Events, which put up an advisory on its Web site and sent out an e-mail to those partygoers who bought tickets online asking people for their help with the police investigation.

"What I am hoping is somebody can identify where they may have been or if they saw a similar group of people congregating. It is difficult to say if these attackers were at another party somewhere or just in the neighborhood for some other reason," said Demetri Moshoyannis, executive director of Folsom Street Events. "We had no reports of people being harassed, no reports of any kinds of harassment or any other kind of negative attention."

It is believed to be the first time in recent memory that such an attack has occurred in conjunction with one of the group's events. Moshoyannis said the nonprofit group is already discussing how to beef up security at its Magnitude dance party the weekend of the Folsom Street Fair in September.

Scheduled for the night of Saturday, September 26, it will be held at the Regency Ballroom on Van Ness Avenue.

"We will make sure patrons for that event know to be careful. They should be aware of their surroundings and stay on well lit streets that they know; preferably in groups," he said. "It is a really difficult message to hear sometimes as an adult gay man. The perception is one can take care of themselves, and sometimes, that is just not the case."

Police returned to the scene of the crime Tuesday to look for the exact location of the attack and to see if any security cameras in the vicinity may have caught the incident on tape.

Danker said he has no leads in the case and said it is unclear if the assailants were indeed Asian. He is looking for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or seen a group of six people in the area that night.

Anyone with information should call Danker at (415) 553-9256.