The same ad aired on Channel 7 and Channel 9 over the weekend. But SBS decided not to air the ad, which urges Australians to “think of the child” in the same sex marriage debate. SBS says it reserves the right to determine what adverts it broadcasts, and is not commenting further on the matter.

President of the Australian Marriage Forum, Dr David van Gend, who also features in the ad, said he intends to hold SBS to account for its decision.

“It’s a gross abuse of power … both sides of the marriage debate are citizens who are paying for SBS. Both sides.”

The ad begins with a young mother saying, “We hear a lot about marriage equality, but what about equality for kids?”

Dr van Gend said the same sex marriage debate has focused on the rights of adults, with no consideration of the rights of children.

“We intend to reframe the debate in terms of the fundamental right of every child to have, wherever possible, both a mother and a father … that deprivation is an injustice against the child.”

The Australian Marriage Forum was set up by a number of organisations seeking to influence the debate on same sex marriage in Australia, including the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association. It sought donations to make the advertisement, and to pay for its placement on national television.

Dr van Gend, who also works as a family doctor and GP in Toowoomba, secured the support of Holy Name Catholic Church in Toowoomba, who raised $21,000 in one week to support the advertising campaign in Sydney, during the Mardi Gras celebrations.

He argues that the Mardi Gras is “the nation’s most famous political protest march”, with one of its objectives being to promote “marriage equality”.

“It’s a political rally aired by the public broadcaster, SBS, free of charge. We wanted to argue the counter case, to make our own mini-protest … We wanted to stand, symbolically, in the path of the Mardi Gras and say ‘Stop, and think about the child.’”

In choosing not to run the ad, van Gend believes SBS has silenced their voices.

“They have a responsibility to cover both sides of the political debate.”

The Australian Christian Lobby, who helped set up the Australian Marriage Forum, says it did not fund or help to organise the advertisement at the weekend. But ACL’s Queensland director, Wendy Francis, says she wants to defend the AMF’s right to run the ad during Mardi Gras.

“SBS represents every taxpayer. My dollars contribute to SBS, as does anyone, regardless of their definition of marriage. We all contribute. If they’re covering the march, then I think it’s fair enough for taxpayers to also present a different understanding.”

David Peterson, the chair of Liberty Christian Ministries, which seeks to support Christian men and women who experience same-sex attraction, said he too believed the ad should have been allowed to run.

“It’s entirely appropriate to put an ad like that on during Mardi Gras because that’s when people are thinking about the issue.

“The funny thing about this kind of debate is that people can be so strong in their own point of view that they’re not able to accept that people feel strongly in the other direction too. They’re not prepared to allow that difference to be expressed in any public way.”

Opposing views are regularly expressed in our culture, said Peterson. He pointed to an the example of an interview on Channel 7 recently with NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley, the leader of the Labor Party, while in the ad break the Liberal Party ran an ad against his leadership capability.

“That’s just the way people in our culture work … why are we so sensitive to these matters when that’s the way we debate?”

A change.org petition calling for the removal of the Think of the Child advertisements from Channel 7 and Channel 9 has garnered close to 12,000 supporters in two days, and the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby is encouraging people opposed to the ads to lodge a complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

However, several politicians including Liberal senator Dean Smith and Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm – both known for their support of same sex marriage – have come out to defend the right of opposing views to be aired on SBS.

“I think the ad is silly and I disagree with it but other people are entitled to have a different opinion and we should not be suppressing views we disagree with,” Senator Leyonhjelm told Fairfax Media yesterday.

The controversy surrounding the ad has drawn a lot of attention to it, whether viewers agree or disagree with its contents. Since Saturday, the ad has had over 370,000 views on YouTube.

“I’m sure some of them will have ears to hear,” says Dr van Gend. “These are the people we did the ad for.

“Part of our job is to expose the fact that anyone who dares to speak the opposite view on marriage and family is not argued with, but demonized and vilified. I’m prepared to take that.”