Parliamentary committee backs gay marriage

A bill legalising same-sex unions has been backed by parliament's human rights committee chaired by a Liberal MP opposed to gay marriage.

The committee, headed by Philip Ruddock, said the cross-party legislation would promote the right to equality and non-discrimination.

But some members of the committee disagreed - with Liberal Michael Sukkar and Nationals' David Gillespie and Matthew Canavan saying it infringed on the rights of civil celebrants who refused to solemnise marriages contrary to their religious beliefs, and undermine childrens' rights to know and be raised by their parents.

The bill placed an unjustified and intolerable burden on the consciences of celebrants who adhered to a traditional understanding of marriage, the trio said.

"We consider that the rights of children to know and to be raised by their parents and to know their identity are engaged by the bill and that the bill limits those rights," they added.

The Australian Greens said the dissenting coalition MPs were resorting to desperate measures in invoking the human rights charter.

"This time they are cloaking bigotry and homophobia in the language of human rights," Greens senator Robert Simms said in a statement.

"It is deeply insulting to LGBTI Australians and their families and friends to suggest that same-sex parents are somehow deficient."