Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has defended tennis legend Margaret Court, arguing every Australian has a right to speak on gay marriage.
Court has come under fire for a letter published in The West Australian newspaper saying she would stop using Qantas where possible in protest at the airline's public support for gay marriage.
Another former tennis great, Martina Navratilova, has called for her name to be removed from Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena.
Mr Hunt is a supporter of same-sex marriage and last week welcomed the Australian Medical Association's decision to back marriage equality.
But everyone had a right to express their view, he said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I have a disagreement on the substance with those who oppose same-sex marriage," he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
"I welcomed and endorsed the AMA's right to speak on this issue - that means that people with all different views have the capacity."
The AMA has called on federal parliament to legalise gay marriage arguing excluding gay couples from marriage is a health issue with significant mental and physical health consequences.
It's a decision that has angered some doctors, with some threatening to cancel their memberships.
An AMA spokesman said it had received a small number of complaints, mostly faith-based.
"I have resigned my 20-year plus membership over this - I do not want my membership fees supporting a campaign I do not agree with," one wrote on the AMA website.
The head of the powerful doctors' lobby Michael Gannon says he expects to be hit with "bouquets or bricks" over the decision at the AMA national conference this weekend.
"It was of no great surprise to me that not everyone was going to be supportive, and from time to time the AMA does produce position statements which we know have the potential to be divisive," Dr Gannon told AAP.
"We know that statement will be a source of great disappointment to many of our members but we know many of our members are very proud and we've received plenty of support for our move."
While delegates at the conference can criticise the position statement, the decision by the group's federal council is not up for debate and cannot be rescinded.
Mr Hunt dismissed suggestions a plebiscite on the issue would exacerbate the mental harm to gay people, insisting the matter was already being debated every day.
"This issue will be debated no matter what we do, because at the moment the elite get to speak out, the general public doesn't."
