I grew up in the 1980s under the shadow of screaming tabloid headlines about AIDS and the infamous section 28. Overt homophobia was routine, acceptable. Whether gay people were fit to be MPs, teachers, soldiers or judges was still a “serious question”. By the time I came out, stupidly late, in my early 30s, the hard work had been done by others. I have them to thank for what I hope someone joining the Bar today will see as the *unremarkable* fact that nobody much cares about my sexuality. The dinosaurs are in retreat. But their bleached carcasses still remind me of how far we have come, and how much we owe it to those pioneers to insist on the virtues of fairness, decency, equality, and solidarity: to make the profession live up to its own best ideals.