A mother in a lesbian relationship has lodged an anti-discrimination complaint after Family First Senate candidate Wendy Francis equated same-sex couples raising children with child abuse.

Ms Francis provoked outrage by publishing the statement:"Children in homosexual relationships are subject to emotional abuse, legitimising gay marriage is like legalising child abuse."

The comment was made on the Queensland candidate's Twitter feed, but there is dispute about whether she personally wrote the sentence in question.

Ms Francis said when she saw the amount of responses the message was getting, and the distress it was causing people, she took it down.

But despite the abusive and threatening phone calls she received Ms Francis last night took her claims further, likening what she calls this new "parentless" generation to the Stolen Generations.

"What I did say is that I believe that the most optimum situation for a child is to have a father and a mother," she told ABC Radio's PM program.

"What I was actually saying was that we don't know yet what this social experiment is going to result with.

"What I was saying is, under normal circumstances, if we were to do a social experiment on our children we would count that as emotional abuse."

Ms Francis says she is not homophobic, only that she "just does not agree with kids being brought up with a gay couple as surrogate parents".

Kelly Pilgrim-Byrne from the Australian Coalition for Equality says the comments are homophobic and uneducated and she has referred the statement made on Twitter to Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Commission.

She says the statement was hurtful and she felt like it was a personal attack on her family.

"I really want people like Wendy Francis in high-profile positions to think more carefully before they make outlandish statements that actually affect real people," Ms Pilgrim-Byrne said.

"Family First say they're about families, but actually when it's broken down what they're really about is only the families that fit their narrow definition of what a family is.

"There are many other family types in Australia and we all need protection."

Ms Pilgrim-Byrne says credible research shows children raised by same-sex couples have the same levels of emotional, intellectual, social and sexual adjustment as their peers.

"The real danger to my child, and other children raised by same-sex couples, is from the bigotry and hatred stirred up by people like Wendy Francis," Ms Pilgrim-Byrne said.

She says a public apology from Ms Francis is necessary to begin to undo the damage caused.

Ms Pilgrim-Byrne says she has only lodged a complaint in Queensland on her behalf but is aware of anti-discrimination complaints being lodged in other states.

The Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland would not confirm if Ms Francis was under investigation, citing confidentiality.