Two gay activists claim they were called "faggots" before being frogmarched out of Parliament House during the National Marriage Day Breakfast in Canberra this morning.
John Davey and John Kloprogge told ninemsn they climbed onto the stage in the Great Hall during a speech by the Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion Senator Ursula Stephens when they were "attacked by thugs".
"We went up on the stage, stood next to the senator and held out a cardboard banner that read 'Inclusion = equality'," Mr Davey, from gay rights group Equal Love, said.
"Then a man wearing a National Marriage Day badge jumped out of the audience and came toward us saying, 'Get off the stage, get off the stage, you have to leave now'."
Mr Davey said the unidentified man jumped on the stage, pulled on his arm and yanked his neck, saying: "You have to leave ... you've made your point now get out of here, faggot."
Senator Stephens continued her speech, Mr Davey said, while he and Mr Kloprogge were pulled off the stage and away from the audience.
"I was telling this guy to keep his hands off me and that I'd leave peacefully when another person came rushing out of the audience and said 'get out of here you filthy faggot'," Mr Davey said.
He claimed the men were both frogmarched outside of Parliament House and were not allowed back in.
Mr Davey said the ordeal left both of them shaken and that they had filed a complaint with police.
The pair smuggled their makeshift cardboard banner into the breakfast inside their coats.
Mr Kloprogge said it was always their intention to hold the protest and that they never wanted to interrupt Senator Stephens' speech.
"We wanted to ensure that this day about marriage would not exclude those many same sex couples who are interested in marriage," he said.
Ninemsn contacted Senator Stephens for comment but she did not reply to enquiries at time of publication.
The National Marriage Day website said today's breakfast was a celebration of marriage which sought to renew "the culture of marriage within our nation".
Mr Davey said he believed it was to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Howard Government's ban on same-sex marriage on August 13, 2004.
"We don't want special treatment — we just want equal rights and a voice," he said.
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