Federal MPs have sought opinions from their communities to gauge the support, or opposition, on the issue.

Australian Marriage Equity and the Australian Christian Lobby have initiated links on their websites allowing people to directly contact their MPs, with thousands choosing to do so.

Member for Calare John Cobb said people were welcome to bring their views on the issue to his office.

Since the initiative was launched Mr Cobb has received 118 responses, with 87 per cent saying they were against same-sex marriage.

“It sounds like, in our part of the world, those who are against same-sex marriage are a bit more hot under the collar,” Mr Cobb said.

He is an advocate for traditional marriage values and a number of respondents have been vocal in their agreeance with the MP.

One respondent said: “I am totally against same sex marriage, a child needs both a mother and a father, also, physically men and women were created for each other.”

Another said: “marriage is not a ‘right’, if we start giving this right to one group what group will line up next, in Canada polygamists are already lobbying for their ‘rights’ where will it end?”

One person who would like to see the recognition of the union of same-sex couples is Molong woman Beth Reynolds.

A member of the Western Area Gay and Lesbian Support (WAGALS), Ms Reynolds said her step-daughter would love to be able to marry her female partner.

“People should have the right to have that relationship recognised as a legitimate relationship, that it is not some dirty little secret,” she said.

“I can’t see any reason to justify different standards between different relationships ... it’s only since Christianity that homosexuality has become taboo.

“My daughter and her partner are both extremely intelligent women that would like to settle down and have children and have that recognised. I would support that 100 per cent.”

Sister Mary Trainor said she believed same-sex couples should be recognised in the eyes of the law but said she disagreed with the word “marriage” to describe that union.

“I think if two people of the same sex want to have an alliance let them call it something else,” she said.

“It’s a very difficult debate, but I do think that a lot of people are objecting to the use of the word ‘marriage’.

“From the secular point of view, legal rights and inheritances, I think that people that have chosen to live together and support each other, well I can’t see why they should be denied those rights.”

Sr Trainor said from the people she had met it was not a matter of choosing to be a homosexual.

“It’s something that is innate, I don’t think it’s a matter of choice,” she said.