Why Australians are turning on fairy lights months out from Christmas

Houses around Australia are being decorated with sparkling fairy lights, and it’s got nothing to do with Christmas.

The campaign is part of the say ‘yes’ to same-sex marriage movement and intends to bring attention to the issue ahead of the federal government’s postal survey.

The man behind the first fairy light display is Sydney resident Steve Spencer.

Mr Spencer decorated the exterior of his home with the lights by spelling out the words “yes” and also started the #putoutyourfairylights social media push which has rapidly caught on.

“I started the hashtag on Thursday after the High Court’s decision came through,” Steve told 7 News Online.

“My friends and I wanted to brighten things up a little so we took out the fairy lights and wrote a big ‘YES’ on the front fence,” he continued.

“We figured that posters and placards can't be read at night, but fairy lights always get attention but most importantly nobody can get upset at fairy lights!”

Mr Spencer believes that at this point in the campaign it’s important to appeal to anyone who is “undecided or no voters”.

He said #PutOutYourFairyLights is something that everyone can be involved in.

“This is a beautiful reminder that this national survey is about the live's of real peoples who live on our streets, are part of our communities and who simply want the same dignity and status as everyone else in their communities,” Tiernan Brady Executive director of the Equality Campaign told 7 News Online in a statement about the fairy light displays.

“It was never really something I thought would become this big thing, I just uploaded that photo of me with the thumbs up onto social media and then within a day I had dozens of people sending me their photos with fairy lights and messages of support. It's really been a great community-driven campaign!” Mr Spencer also added.

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The Australian Bureau of Statistics will start mailing out forms for the postal ballot on Tuesday, after the High Court dismissed a challenge to the eight-week national survey.

The result will be announced on November 15.