THERE'S no room for vitriol in the public debate over same sex marriage, according to Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome.
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Mr Croome was responding to an article by The Examiner's Keep the Faith columnist Claire van Ryn in last Monday's paper, which accused people of vilifying those opposed to gay marriage.
``The great gavel of human rights has been dragged into this skirmish so that suddenly anyone in opposition to proposed changes to the Marriage Act are being labelled as homophobes and bigots,'' Ms van Ryn wrote.
Mr Croome said gay marriage advocates had also copped abuse.
They had been compared with Nazis; politicians and media outlets that support marriage reform have been subject to vitriolic hate mail campaigns, and religious ministers who have backed same-sex marriage have been sacked, he said.
Mr Croome said same-sex marriage was about a social institution that symbolised love, not hate.
``I apologise to any opponents of marriage equality who feel they have been abused, but I also ask that they speak up against the abuse that is coming from their side,'' he said.
Last week, federal MPs advocating same-sex marriage spoke out about a barrage of hate mail they had received.
The Sunday Age reported that they had been accused of supporting sexual dysfunction and taking away free speech.
In December last year, a Victorian pastor who supported gay marriage was sacked during a secret church meeting he was not invited to.
And during a sermon in North Carolina three weeks ago, US pastor Charles Worley suggested building an electric fence and putting lesbians and gay men behind it, in response to President Barack Obama's public endorsement of same-sex marriage.
``I figured a way out, a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers but I couldn't get it pass the Congress _ build a great big large fence, 50 or 100 mile long,'' Mr Worley said.
``Put all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have that fence electrified so they can't get out. And you know what? In a few years they will die out.''
Mr Croome said no one should have to endure the kind of harassment, abuse and discrimination that was occurring against people supporting gay marriage.
``I'll happily join with Claire van Ryn in issuing a joint statement asking both sides to keep a level head in the lead up to Federal Parliament's marriage equality debate,'' he said.
