I was watching a documentary on SBS on Sunday night about (broadly speaking) the history of homosexuality in Australia.

There was a lot of talk about the fight to get homosexuality legalised around the late 70s/early 80s.

The position as described was roughly thus:

* There was a large majority of people who thought the current situation was hideous, unfair, unjust, and generally nasty - but were unwilling to risk outing themselves or expend any effort in order to fight for change

* There was an activist group, CAMP, fighting for change

* There were other groups who didn't feel CAMP was radical enough, so they split off and formed their own even more activist groups.

At some point, people got to fighting for this in parliament. At some point, the idea of legalising homosexuality, but with a different age of consent than for heterosexuals, was raised. Some were willing to accept this, as they saw it as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal. Others felt that accepting anything less than total equality would defeat the longer-term goals.

Some things never change..