The Victorian Same Sex Gender Diverse Formal is thrown by Minus 18 every year. It's an event that allows hundreds teens to identify how they want, wear what they want and take whoever they want as their date. For many LGBTQI teens, it's a safe, inclusive night they can't have at their own school.

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Whatsapp Promotional image for the same-sex 2015 formal in Adelaide.

"It's a sucky reality for gender diverse and same sex attracted students from all over Australia, who are bullied or made to feel unsupported because of their identity," says Minus 18 CEO Micah Scott.

This year, Minus 18 decided to crowdfund tickets, for kids who couldn't afford the $40 tickets.

But after announcing the event, an anti-gay group attempted to hijack the event.

The Stop Safe Schools Coalition group posted a link to the formal, asking its Facebook members to buy tickets to the event. "The more tickets sold to us the more youth we protect" they wrote.

The 'Stop Safe Schools Coalition' is a Facebook page which rails against the federal Government-funded Safe Schools Coalition Australia program - a coalition of schools and organisations that aim to foster safe and inclusive environments for same sex attracted, intersex, and gender diverse students, staff and families.

The page isn't associated with the Australian Christian Lobby, but they do have supporters aligned with ACL.

Family First Senator Bob Day backs their view, and has called on the Education Minister to cease funding for Safe Schools because it "targets children as young as 11 and refers children to websites supporting all manner of LGBTI behaviour".

Hack contacted the facebook page administrators but hasn’t received a response.

The formal isn't being run by Safe Schools. It's run by Minus 18, a Melbourne youth organisation who works with Safe Schools but isn't financially linked to them.

The Stop Safe Schools group were working on the loophole that tickets were not transferrable or refundable, so they planned to buy up tickets to stop teens attending.

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The admins of the Stop Safe Schools page also claim to be organising a protest against the event.

BUT things didn't quite go as planned for the protestors.

Hundreds of people on social media decided to step in to sponsor tickets to the formal.

Skip Twitter Tweet FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame. @SquigglyRick @lanesainty Well, I hope the Stop Safe Schools people are happy. LOOK WHAT THEY MADE ME DO. pic.twitter.com/brXZPUYDTF — Bri | eatmeetswest (@eatmeetswest) February 15, 2016

As of 5pm on Tuesday, Minus 18 had raised $29,185. That's over 700 tickets.

Formal organisers say they're baffled by the protest, as every ticket sponsored is guaranteed to go to an LGBTI teen.

"You realise that if the conservatives do buy all the tickets, you can just allow registered people on a waiting list in for free? They're effectively subsidising tickets for those who can't buy one," Angelus Valentine Morningstar wrote on Facebook.

Minus 18 were only planning on raising $15k for 500 tickets, so they're now thinking of expanding, and getting a larger venue.

Any additional money raised will go towards the Same Sex Gender Diverse Formal in South Australia.