I need citations for "unavoidable risks of harm that exceed any benefits", because that's a ludicrous judgment to be making about other people's choices in lack of solid evidence in the face of a convincing set of testimonies depicting something rather different. ... A kid had a genuine relationship with a significantly older person that lead to some amount of (illegal) sexual conduct and nobody gave a shit because they either didn't find out or the older person wasn't a perceived threat. Later, no psychological dysfunction was experienced by any party.

There are testimonies of the kind you mention. You have to search pretty hard to find them. "Positive Memories" by T. Rivas scoured the web and found 118. My analysis was that there were gay boys who were excited by the sex, but among the others the emotional relationship was the key thing and the sex was rarely better than OK.

In contrast, the web bends under the weight of thousands of survivors who say that they not only didn't enjoy the sexual part but it had a huge negative effect on their lives.

That has all happened in a society with high AoCs. What happens if we lower them? Even harder to find on the web than positive memories are the testimonies of girls who wanted to have sex with older guys, but they refused because it was illegal, and the girl felt seriously harmed. The lower AoC could make those stories less common. What we could make more common would be lots and lots of rapes.

I don't really believe that what Virtuous Pedophiles currently brings to the table is very relevant to any culture that wants to move on

And what is this culture? Some anonymous pro-legalization pedophiles and an even smaller group of nons? Tiny, and totally marginalized.

... and the "solution" that you represent is actually morally reprehensible. (The fact that you don't see it as such is frightening.)

What does VP bring to the table? First, an analysis of where society is: most people think pedophiles rape children sooner or later. VP says that lots of us don't do sexual things with kids -- and don't ultimately want to, even if we weren't worried about being caught. This is big news to large swaths of the public. If VP achieves our goal, the public recognizes that there are pedophiles who see children pretty much as they do -- better off without sex with adults. It's not a revolutionary agenda, but it's incremental improvement, and I don't see where the "morally reprehensible" judgment comes from.

snide tone ... unfortunately, I can't talk to you without roasting you a little. I find your presentation comical. I'm sorry if this offends you.

I'm not offended. How you deal with such feelings reflects on you, not me.