A Fremantle mural showing two men holding hands in front of a rainbow flag has been vandalised three times in the last three months.

PHOTO: Isaac Groves.

The most recent incident saw the faces and bodies of the men blacked out, leaving their genders unidentifiable.

Local residents have now banded together to raise money to pay for cleaning and repairs to the mural, which is painted on the wall of Little Lefroy’s café on South Terrace.

Fremantle resident Kia Sawyer started the crowdfunding campaign on Wednesday and will use the money for an anti-graffiti acrylic coating to cover the mural, as well as a high-pressure hose to clean any graffiti in the future.

“Every time my partner and I walk past the mural we’re happy to see it there, then we saw it defaced and that made us think of what every other LGBTQI person must feel,” she said,

Ms Sawyer said money would be donated to youth LGBTQI drop-in centre The Freedom Centre if the campaign raised more than was needed.

“I remember when I was 18, I wished that we had somewhere I could go for that same purpose,” she said.

Little Lefroy’s manager Cat Exham said the artist had restored the painting free of charge after previous graffiti incidents and would repaint it again this time.

“He designed the mural himself in the first place,” she said. “He wanted his friends to get married.”

Cat said she wasn’t surprised a crowdfunding campaign had been launched.

“I’m just glad the community are passionate about it,” she said.

The campaign, which can be found at https://chuffed.org/project/repaint-little-lefroys-marriage-equality-street-art , had raised more than $1000 by Friday afternoon.