Mamamia founder Mia Freedman has "unequivocally apologised" to members of the LGBT community, after an attempt to start a hashtag movement for married women to show support for marriage equality backfired.

In a post on Tuesday headlined "Straight, married women want marriage equality too," Freedman shared a photo of herself pointing towards her ring and encouraged other married straight women to do the same, along with the hashtag #married4marriageequality. Freedman has since clarified that she came up with the concept after being approached by Australian Marriage Equality.

The backlash was swift on social media, with critics on Twitter labelling it "tone-deaf" and "gloating about your ability to get married".