Mia Freedman, the owner of Australian women's network Mamamia, has sparked controversy online after publishing a piece called "Straight, married women want marriage equality too."
Freedman closes the piece by asking her straight readers to show their support for same-sex marriage by putting a photo of themselves pointing at their wedding ring with the hashtag #Married4MarriageEquality on social media.
However, many people saw the hashtag campaign as insensitive and tone-deaf, and the reactions on Twitter said just as much.
thought marriage equality was about LGBTQI people?? GUESS AGAIN
read the goddamn room mia
Mia Freedman: I care about LGBTQI rights!!! L - look G - guys B - basically it's T - time to Q - quietly make I -… https://t.co/Q1C8uNRfNx
"Decent Intentions, Horrific Execution" A Memoir By Mia Freedman
People quickly hijacked the hashtag and had their fun with it.
Parents, don't forget to take a sweet selfie with your kids to show support for women with infertility issues too! #married4marriageequality
Homeless man: "Do you have any change so I can get some food?" Me: "No. But here's a photo of my lunch!" #married4marriageequality
Well #married4marriageequality is no match for #caviar4thehungry
Inspire others by flaunting something they can't legally have. Too poor to dine out? Here's me doing it for you.… https://t.co/5M16MrpWrY
Inspired by Mia Freedman's selfless #married4marriageequality committment. I'd like to share a pic of my home with… https://t.co/nrMyhIdQo4
Are we doing this right?
#married4marriageequality
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a spokesperson for Mamamia said the company had been working closely with Australian Marriage Equality for several years to help build momentum with women and mothers at a critical time in the history of marraige equality in Australia.
"Together with Australian Marriage Equality we thought a demonstration of support from married women under the hashtag #married4marriageequality would help send the message to politicians that there is a huge tide of support that exists among all Australians for marriage equality," said the statement.
"If anyone was offended or distracted by this it was not my intention, I apologise unequivocally and we will continue to loudly and proudly support marriage equality until all Australians have the legal right to marry the person they love."