"I think Ireland is a great example to look at where they had recently a plebiscite that was conducted very respectfully," Mr Berry said ahead of the US Embassy's Fourth of July celebration. "One of the LGBTI leaders from Ireland in fact is in Australia right now and made this very point that their plebiscite actually helped bring their country together on the issue. US Ambassador John Berry with former prime minister Tony Abbott at last year's 4th of July Independence Day event at the US embassy in Canberra. Credit:Andrew Meares "A plebiscite does not have to be a divisive technique. "I will tell you this: Being in Australia obviously as an openly gay ambassador, my husband and I have been accorded nothing but absolute respect in our three years here in your country. We are enormously grateful and enormously respectful of how equality is revered here in your country. "It's part I think of your national ethos that everybody deserves a fair go. And we have certainly been given our fair go by everyone we've met in Australia in every state by every leader.

"So I certainly believe however Australia decides to move forward on this issue it will be done with great respect. I think Australia's one of the most rational countries in the world. You handle debate and discussion better than anybody quite frankly. In America we tend to throw emotion in a lot and that sort of tends to turn the temperature up on things." US Ambassador to Australia John Berry is confident a same-sex marriage plebiscite can be held without being divisive. Credit:Daniel Munoz Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has inherited from his predecessor Tony Abbott the policy of holding a national plebiscite to guide the Parliament on whether to legalise same sex marriage. The plan became Coalition policy in the dying days of Mr Abbott's leadership when he sided with his party's right wing in a move that was widely seen as a way of pushing the issue down the road. Labor favours having Parliament decide the issue in a free vote and Mr Shorten has vowed it would be his first piece of legislation if he is elected. US ambassador John Berry and his partner Curtis Yee the day after the US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage in the US. Credit:Graham Tidy

Mr Berry stressed it was a decision for Australia. But he has often spoken in favour of same-sex marriage. He has been with his partner Curtis Yee have been together for 20 years and were married in Washington D.C. in 2013. "Our marriage has deepened our relationship and it has strengthened in ways that I could never have predicted our love for one another," Mr Berry said. Of same-sex marriage in the US he said: "None of the fears that people had at the time came to pass and in fact I think people are seeing that what it's done is it has helped increase the stability of our country, it's allowed people to love openly and freely and in doing so it has deepened the legal commitment of their relationships." Mr Turnbull said following his National Press Club speech in Canberra on Thursday that marriage was about commitment and should be welcomed when it was made by any couple. Loading

"Lucy and I have been married for more than 36 years and we … have no doubt that if gay couples, same-sex couples, were able to describe or formalise their relationship as a marriage … that would not undermine or affect in any adverse way our relationship, our marriage," he said. Follow us on Twitter