A victim of child sex abuse fears he has been the target of a "hate crime" after a homophobic slur was burnt into a cliff face in Portland, in south-west Victoria.
Victoria Police are investigating after the word 'faggit' was burnt into grass a residential area earlier this month, with an arrow pointing to John Arden's property.
Mr Arden was abused by a former teacher in the 1970s, and has since become a vocal advocate for victims of child sex abuse.
He said he was concerned the graffiti was directed at him as an act of retribution for speaking out.
"I do get hate mail online," he said.
"[It's] that weird hateful stuff, where their brains somehow go from a victim of child abuse to a homosexual, which I'm not."
Mr Arden believed the graffiti had been burnt into the nature strip using roundup, a herbicide used to kill lawns, and that his front lawn had also been attacked.
"It's really upset my mother. It's traumatised her. Me, I'll take it on, but not her," he said.
Local police said investigations were ongoing.
Officers from the Glenelg Shire Council have visited Mr Arden's property to inspect the damage.
Mr Arden said the slur was likely to take some time to fully disappear because it had been burnt into the lawn.
"If I took it to heart and let it to paralyse me, then I'd be going against everything I say about free speech," he said.
"It's not going to work for me to say the whole town is against me, because I don't think that's the case.
"If I gave up on the community, I'd give up on life, I'd give up on the world."
