The Federal Opposition will attempt to force a vote on legalising same-sex marriage in Parliament this week.

Key points: Cross-party bill has been stalled in House of Reps

Cross-party bill has been stalled in House of Reps Labor's Terri Butler says she wants issue put to bed before any election

Labor's Terri Butler says she wants issue put to bed before any election Fears debate could descend into vitriol

Fears debate could descend into vitriol Government has numbers to block the move in the House

A cross-party bill remains stalled in the House of Representatives as the Federal Government pushes ahead with plans for a plebiscite on the issue.

Labor MP Terri Butler, who helped LNP backbencher Warren Entsch introduce the bill last year, said a vote this week would neutralise same-sex marriage as an election issue.

Ms Butler told the ABC decisive action would help avoid a potentially vitriolic campaign.

"Just have a look at some of the ridiculous things that were said in the Safe Schools debate during the course of the past week," she said.

"Do you really want to see a situation here across the country, people are running ads that imply or outright say that LGBTI households are somehow inferior or different or not normal?"

But Labor is likely to fail before it gets to a vote, with the Government having the numbers to block debate on the issue.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has stood by the Coalition's decision to hold a plebiscite, expected to cost $158.4 million, and says Australia is capable of a civil debate on the issue.

Heated debate over Safe Schools

Mr Turnbull warned politicians last week to use "measured language" when debating the Safe Schools program, aimed at helping lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/or intersex (LGBTI) school students.

The taxpayer-funded program is the subject of a Government-backed review and has prompted heated commentary from politicians.

A number of politicians labelled conservative senator Cory Bernardi a "homophobe", while Coalition MP George Christensen last week compared the scheme to the grooming of children by paedophiles.

His colleague Ewen Jones today said Mr Christensen was entitled to his opinion, but said he could "live with the program as it is".

Mr Jones said he backed Australian teachers and trusted them to take the parts of the programs that were applicable in the fight against bullying.

"We have a real issue," he said.

"In my son's school, two kids committed suicide late year. There is a real issue here and what we must do is, we must address it."