Social media giant Facebook has waded into the divisive same-sex marriage debate in an unprecedented partnership with Australian marriage equality advocates. 

From Tuesday, Facebook will give its 14 million Australian users the option of adding an Australian Marriage Equality banner to their profile pictures, in what AME hopes will demonstrate "the mainstream support" for the reform.

Facebook will, for the first time, back a political or social cause in Australia with its 'frame feature'. Photo: Jeff Chiu

The move comes amid an increasingly heated public discussion about same-sex marriage and LGBTI issues. 

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On Monday, Fairfax Media reported leaked pamphlets - due to feature in an upcoming campaign against same-sex marriage - suggesting children of gay parents are more prone to "abuse and neglect". 

This is the first time Facebook has used the "frame feature" (which puts a prominent banner at the bottom of a profile picture) for a political or social cause in Australia.

Mia Garlick, Facebook's director of policy for Australia. Photo: Louise Kennerley

However, the new feature follows a rainbow "filter" social media users put over their profile pictures last year in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision backing same-sex marriage. 

Facebook director of policy for Australia, Mia Garlick, said marriage equality was "one of the most talked-about topics on Facebook". 

In 2015, it was the 11th most talked-about news topic in Australia (after prime ministers Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, but ahead of Bronwyn Bishop's expenses scandal and US singer Taylor Swift). 

An example of the Australian Marriage Equality banner Australian Facebook users will have access to.

Ms Garlick said the frame feature was "a way of us amplifying the conversations that we already see happening on the platform". 

Facebook is also a partner of the upcoming Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. 

AME campaign director Erin McCallum said the new feature was a "simple, yet powerful way for individuals and businesses to show what we already know". 

She added that the accessible and visual nature of Facebook made it an "extremely powerful way of furthering this issue and making the gay community feel included". 

"We hope that as many of those 14 million people [on Facebook] will show their support." 

Facebook was not able to say how many of its 14 million Australian users are of voting age. 

The Facebook-AME partnership comes as the Turnbull government works on its plans for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, which would be held after the federal election, if the Coalition wins. 

Labor - as well as AME - is vehemently opposed to a plebiscite, arguing Parliament should deal with the issue instead. 

Opposition frontbencher Terri Butler plans to try and bring on a vote on the cross-party bill on same-sex marriage this week, although there is little chance government MPs will agree to the plan. 

According to a Fairfax/Ipsos poll in mid-2015, 68 per cent of Australians surveyed supported same-sex marriage, with 25 per cent opposed. 

With Matthew Knott

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