: NSW Premier Chris Minns has apologised for historic discriminatory laws against homosexuality. Image source: MDRX, via Wikimedia Commons
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has given a formal apology for past discriminatory laws that targeted homosexual acts.
Minns stated that his apology was on behalf of the people of NSW as he apologised “unreservedly to those convicted under discriminatory laws that criminalise homosexual acts, recognises and regrets this Parliament’s role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments”.
“Decisions that criminalised, persecuted and harmed people based on their sexuality.”
Minns further apologised “for every life that was damaged or diminished or destroyed by these unjust laws. To those who survived these terrible years, and to those who never made it through, we are truly sorry”.
“We’re sorry for every person convicted under legislation that should never have existed. For every person that experienced fear as a result of that legislation. Everyone who lost a job, who lost their future, or who lost the love of family and friends.
“We are very sorry for every person, convicted or otherwise, who were made to live a smaller life because of these laws.”
It has been 40 years since NSW decriminalised homosexual acts, the fifth state to do so with the Crimes (Amendment) Bill 1984.
The legislation removed a section of the Crimes Act 1900 which focused on “unnatural offences” and punished anyone who committed the “abominable crime of buggery”. The sentence could be punished with up to 14 years in jail.
The Crimes (Amendment) Bill was brought forward by Labor premier Neville Wran as a private member’s bill. The bill decriminalised homosexuality between consenting males over the age of 18 across the state.
This legislation followed South Australia decriminalising homosexual acts in 1975, the ACT in 1976, Victoria in 1980, and the NT in 1983.
NSW is the last state to issue an apology to the LGBTQ+ community for discriminatory laws and legal persecution, with Victoria and South Australia apologising in 2016. This was followed by Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania in 2017.
It is another move to support the LGBTQ+ community from the NSW government, following the state’s ban on conversion therapy earlier in the year.
Minns ended the apology with an acknowledgement that “there is still much more work to do to ensure the equal rights of all members of the LGBTQIA+ community”.
