It's shocking to think, in these enlightened times, that there are men living in Victoria today who have a criminal record because they were once found guilty of having consensual gay sex.

It's almost as incredible that homosexuality was decriminalised in this state only relatively recently: we may disparage countries such as Uganda and India for their persecution of homosexuals, but before 1981 men right here in Victoria who had sex with other men could be charged with crimes such as ''gross indecency with a male person'' or ''the abominable act of buggery'' and, in later years, loitering for homosexual purposes.

They might not have been stoned to death, but they were arrested, jailed and treated as criminals. Famously, a Melbourne gay couple who reported a burglary in the late 1970s were charged with gross indecency after the police noticed their apartment had only one bed.

The exact number is not known, but experts believe there could be thousands of Victorian men who have endured life with a conviction, which has not only had practical ramifications - such as restrictions on travel and applying for certain jobs, such as teaching - but has carried with it an indelible stigma.

It is welcome news, then, that the state government will introduce legislation allowing anyone with a historical conviction for gay sex to have it expunged from their record. Victoria is the first Australian state to take this action, with Premier Denis Napthine acknowledging that consensual acts between two adult men ''should never have been a crime''.