A 14-year-old girl has reportedly received death threats from the father of a boy at her school after speaking out in a favour of same-sex marriage on Facebook.
Her mother shared a screenshot of a group conversation on Twitter, in which several people wrote comments supporting marriage equality. "Thank you to all those who tick yes", read one. Another said: "Gays and lesbians and bi's and trans, we are all equal."
The comments are followed by one that appears to be from the NSW man, and reads: "Kk WTF? I ain't f*kin playing no more, u now what I'm capable of b***h. I am *** father. Call me b4 I come n drop bombs, it's my time to shine because straight up. U want me to come with a 9,mm."
The mother shared the conversation on Twitter yesterday with a plea to the Prime Minister, news.com.au reported.
"Hey @TurnbullMalcolm this is my 14yo daughter getting a death threat from a school friend's father because she wrote a fb post supporting SSM," she tweeted.
She later added that two of her family's dearest longtime friends were a gay couple "who are like uncles" to her three girls.
Her post has had almost 800 retweets, with many saying they were shocked at the unpleasant and intimidating remarks.
"Just disgusting is this the respectful debate you talked about @TurnbullMalcolm," tweeted Vale Sibylla.
"I'm so sorry that this has happened." added Kellyo. "This govt have so much to answer for."
The mother's account was apparently temporarily frozen by Twitter for "potentially abusive behaviour" after she shared the screenshot, but has now been restored.
When News.com.au contacted the man for comment, he said he did not share the original comment captured in the Facebook screenshot. "I've got no problem with same-sex marriage," he added.
The woman said she had contacted Dubbo police and they were looking into the matter.
The Australian Federal Police were also tagged on Twitter and replied: "Using a carriage service to threaten is a Commonwealth offence but investigated by state police."
NSW Police said they were looking into the matter.