To Justice Michael Kirby, John Marsden was a lightning rod, [a] change agent, who had practically shamed him into being honest about his own sexuality.

Addressing the estimated 800 people who turned up for Marsden’s funeral at Campbelltown on Saturday morning, Kirby spoke of the blistering criticism his friend assailed him with at social functions, because of Kirby’s unwillingness to come out.

In the early days, when he was an openly gay man as pres