As the government's marriage plebiscite goes down in flames, ructions in the Australian parliament's small LGBTI community have come to the fore.
Speaking to ABC radio on Monday morning, Labor senator Penny Wong described the plebiscite as "a political deceit" and slammed the "so-called moderates" of the Coalition for not standing up to the hard-right conservative wing of the party.
"[The plebiscite] is a deceit that Malcolm Turnbull doesn't agree with. We know that because, before he became prime minister, he argued against it. Now what has happened is he lacks political courage," she said.
Newly elected Liberal MP Tim Wilson tweeted that Wong was a hypocrite saying "some of us had guts to stand tall and proud".
Hypocrite @SenatorWong lectured SS couples marriage wasn't 4 them; while some of us had guts to stand tall & proud https://t.co/8Hlfaz5WO9
Prior to Labor changing its party policy to one in support of same-sex marriage in 2011, Wong had publicly advocated the party line of retaining the traditional definition of marriage.
However, Wong quickly fired back, saying she had worked to change Labor's position on marriage and succeeded.
We worked to change our party's position on marriage,& we did. You've rolled over to the Right.#bringonavote https://t.co/kpmqdILv3h
The plebiscite is immensely unpopular within the LGBTI community, with a recent poll commissioned by PFLAG showing 85% of LGBTI people oppose a national vote.
The same poll found just under 58% of the community continues to oppose a plebiscite, even if it is the only way same-sex marriage can be considered under the current government.
Former Australian Democrat senator Brian Greig, who is gay, told BuzzFeed News last week that he sees the plebiscite itself as being "an act of bullying".
"If we, in the LGBTI community, accede to this, then we are saying that we are prepared to be treated differently and less equally as we progress toward equal rights," he said.