Meet the women behind the controversial anti-gay ad dividing Australia

Australia's first "say no to same-sex marriage" advertisement aired this week and it featured three mothers talking about the adverse effects same-sex marriage could have on their children.

The ad featured Heidi McIvor, a church pastor, Dr Pansy Lai, a GP, and Cella White, a critic of the Safe Schools programme.

Heidi McIvor. Photo / Coalition for Marriage

"Kids in Year 7 are being asked to role-play being in a same-sex relationship," McIvor said in the ad.

She is a mother of two and, according to her LinkedIn profile, a former media adviser to Family First senator Steve Fielding, the senator who, in 2009, compared same-sex marriage to incest.

Dr Pansy Lai is a Chinese-Australian GP based in Sydney.

Dr Pansy Lai. Photo / Coalition for Marriage

She says in the ad that schools overseas had been forced to adopt controversial programmes after same-sex marriage had been legalised in those countries.

Lai is against same-sex marriage and is also against the Safe Schools programme, which has the goal of reducing bullying of gay, lesbian and transgender students in schools.

Cella White, the third woman in the ad, had previously made headlines when she pulled her children out of Frankston High School.

Cella White. Photo / Coalition for Marriage

She said her son was told he could wear a dress to school next year, something the school principal has refuted.

The Coalition for Marriage ad costs a reported $35,000 every time it airs.

It has been labelled as "disgraceful in its dishonesty" by Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady.

"The people behind this ad know that the Australian people are for allowing all Australians the right to marry so they want to desperately pretend this simple straightforward question is about something else," Brady told news.com.au.