Last state apologises over anti-gay laws

NSW Premier Chris Minns has “unreservedly” apologised to people who suffered under historical laws that criminalised homosexuality and led to the jailing of gay men.

Mr Minns said the laws “persecuted, and harmed” people based on their sexuality, and acknowledged there was “still much more work to do to ensure the equal rights of all members of the LGBTQIA+ community”.

“We’re here to apologise for every life that was damaged or diminished or destroyed by these unjust laws,” he said to a packed public viewing gallery.

“To those who survived these terrible years and to those who never made it through, we are truly sorry.

“As a state, we told you were wrong. But the truth is you are never wrong. These laws were wrong.”

NSW is the last state to apologise for the anti-gay laws which were reformed in 1984, under Labor premier Neville Wran, with Mr Minns apology comes two days before the 40th anniversary of the amendments.

Attending the apology were more than a dozen 78ers, who attended Sydney’s first Mardi Gras, and a number of people who had been charged under the laws.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the widow of Mr Wran, Jill Hickson, also watched Mr Minns deliver the apology.

While the laws were aimed at gay men, Mr Minns also said they “suppressed the relationships of women”.

“Gay love was a taboo, and a thick wall of silence surrounded the love of two women,” he told the parliament.

He said lesbian mothers were denied from seeing dying partners in hospitals, and were “judged as unsuitable mothers” and had their children taken away from them.

“All of it was our fault, so today we say we are very sorry. Reliving these memories must be painful for anyone who experienced them,” he said.

More to come