After one of the men, Timothy Carter, approached a group of firefighters around 1 a.m. to ask them to keep it down, they allegedly began berating him. When Carter returned to the house, a drunken mob banged on the side of the house and loudly threatened to kill the men and their dogs, according to the couple.

Despite complaints to the town, Carter and his partner, Peter de Vries, allege little was done to discipline the firefighters and they lived in constant fear before eventually moving away.

Yesterday, in a courtroom in Jersey City, lawyers delivered opening arguments at the start of a civil trial. The men argue their civil rights were violated and are seeking unspecified damages against the town.

Neither of the men was injured in the 12-minute attack, but each suffered some degree of post traumatic stress disorder, according to their attorney, Neil Mullin of Montclair.

"They were in there feeling like a mob was going to come in the house and do what they said" they would do, Mullin said in opening statements before a Hudson County Superior Court jury.

The firefighters shouted derogatory, anti-homosexual epithets and death threats, said Mullin.

"They're terrified," Mullin said of the couple. "They're paralyzed with fear."

Police arrived quickly on the night of the incident but the hate crime was never fully investigated by Secaucus officials, according to court papers filed by the couple. Police made no arrests and no one from the firehouse was thrown off the volunteer force.

In their defense, town officials noted the prompt response by police and the fact that the firefighters were off-duty at the time -- even though one of the accused told police he was still on duty.

The case quickly became controversial in town and the investigation was taken over by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. The prosecutor's office did not bring charges against anyone. A probe into a possible hate crime also was launched by the state Attorney General's Office, but the case was closed due to a lack of evidence.

De Vries and Carter are represented by civil rights attorneys Mullin and Nancy Erika Smith. The town of Secaucus is represented by attorney Daniel Bevere and David Paris.

Bevere said Secaucus should not be held accountable because it did not sanction a party the firefighters attended earlier that night. Nor should the town be held responsible for the conduct of off-duty volunteers, said Bevere.

Bevere defended the actions of police, saying they eventually cleared the firehouse of volunteers on the night of the incident, including some who were reluctant to leave. Police interviewed the gay couple and questioned those volunteers who agreed to talk. A police official also stationed a guard outside the couple's home, he said.

"Does that sound like deliberate indifference to you?" Bevere asked the jury.

Bevere said town officials were eventually told to cease their investigation and bring no charges against the volunteers because the incident was being investigated by the county and state.

On the night in question, the firefighters had gathered for a party at a restaurant outside town earlier in the evening, Bevere said. According to the lawsuit and supporting depositions, the firefighters returned to Engine Company No. 2 by bus because the party featured an open bar and there was expected to be much drinking.

Some firefighters continued drinking inside the station and out in the parking lot on Paterson Plank Road, which was adjacent to the gay couple's home on Schopmann Drive.

Carter and de Vries say the harassment continued after the incident and the men said they eventually felt compelled to leave Secaucus.

"After April 25, 2004 we began to live in constant fear," Carter said in court papers. "We knew that the firefighters who had attacked us were right next door and they had not been arrested or disciplined in any way in connection to the attack. To this day we remain terrified that we could be attacked."