A Darwin man will face court next month for allegedly painting statements about the marriage debate that included gay slurs on an underpass.

Last week the message “Gay marry = yes to child sex” appeared on Darwin’s Woolmer underpass.

The message was quickly painted over and changed to the message “Gay marry = yes”, with additional rainbows and love hearts obscuring the negative part of the message.

On Sunday a 53 year old man allegedly returned to paint two more messages where he was caught by police. He will appear in a Darwin court on 11 September.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has stated that he is confident that Australians can have a civil and mature debate on the topic of marriage equality in the lead up to a national postal survey. The PM has conceded that there will most likely be negative incidents on both sides of the discussion.

Read the details of the story at NT News, and check out this interview from the ABC with Sarah who turned the negative message into a positive.