`It shouldn't be an issue'

But she and her partner, Lily, who have been together five years and have a daughter, wish same-sex marriage was not such a big issue.

"For us, it's important that we have the right to get married and that shouldn't be an issue but unfortunately it is," Sally said.

Mr Foster, a world champion axeman from Latrobe, will speak in support of gay marriage at a forum in Hobart on Tuesday.

Sally and Lily hope to marry one day but said they already lived as though they were married.

"I don't think that just because you're gay it means you want to get married but for us it's important because we love each other, we have a child," Sally said.

"Lily has the same last name as me now - she changed her last name and for us, it would just mean that piece of paper would validate our relationship in a legal way.

"Emotionally, we're already married."

Lily said she and Sally loved and respected Mr Foster for his support.

"I think it's fantastic what David's doing for us," she said.

"I think he's a lovely guy and he's taken me into the family like I'm his daughter.

"I appreciate that so much and I think it's sad that other people don't have the same thing."

David Foster's views on the matter changed when Sally sat him and his wife Jan down four years ago to tell them she was gay.

"I think she didn't want to come out earlier because I was a bit anti- that and maybe she didn't want to upset me," he said.

The Tasmanian Greens and gay activists also praised Foster's stance on same-sex marriage yesterday.

"David Foster's support for allowing same-sex couples to marry is a reminder that this issue is not about political, religious or moral disputes, but about the things we all value like love, commitment and family," Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome said.

Last month the Tasmanian ALP voted in favour of changing the marriage act.