Australia does not have to subject itself to an ugly, divisive campaign over same-sex marriage for the sole purpose of fulfilling an election promise made by a prime minister who is well aware of the dangers it poses.

Australia does not have to spend another day debating whether two loving adults should be allowed the simple legislative right of marriage that is afforded without thought to the majority of citizens.

Australia does not have to – but likely will.

Ms Gerard and Ms Meredith’s story has become one of the case studies supporting the case for same-sex marriage and we should be proud of what their tale of acceptance says about the Bathurst community.

But plans to force Australians to a plebiscite to decide whether Ms Gerard and Ms Meredith – and so many others – should be allowed to marry can only do more harm than good.

The first shots have already been fired with the Australian Christian Lobby seeking earlier this year to have the federal government override anti-discrimination laws during a plebiscite campaign.

That’s a clear indication of how the “no” vote sees the campaign developing and should be enough to deter politicians from putting the gay community – and the broader Australian community – through such a debate.

But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has allowed himself to become cornered by the conservatives in his own party on this issue and is being forced to push ahead with an expensive, divisive plebiscite that will carry no legal standing.

Instead, the issue could be decided within weeks by a free vote on the floor of parliament and this issue could finally be put behind us.

That could still happen, but only if legislation for the plebiscite fails to pass both houses of parliament and Mr Turnbull finally stands up to the conservatives he is supposed to lead.

Mr Turnbull’s election should have been a victory for supporters of same-sex marriage, but that’s not how it has panned out.

In years to come, future Australians will marvel at our generation’s ability to make such a sorry mess of what should be a simple change to a single act of parliament.

We have been on the wrong side of history on this issue for too long now.