The Criminal Records Amendment (Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill 2014, a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Cogee MP Bruce Notley-Smith, will extinguish the historical records for those people who were found guilty of consensual homosexual sex before it became legal in NSW in 1984.

Proudly speaking strongly in favour of the bill during debate in Parliament late last week, Mr Marshall said homosexuality was decriminalised in NSW in 1984, the year he was born, and that up until that time, homosexual acts between consenting males was a criminal act. 

“Sadly, many people today still live with a recorded conviction against their name and many more have already passed on. This bill will allow for those convictions to be extinguished,” he said.

“This bill is long overdue recognition not only the discrimination that people who were convicted of consensual homosexual acts have faced but also the hurt and anguish they have experienced.” 

Mr Marshall told Parliament he could only imagine what it must have been like to have been a homosexual man living in NSW prior to decriminalisation, having your consensual sexual activities deemed illegal and being forced to suffer the indignation of embarrassment, discrimination, hurt and anguish and ultimately a criminal conviction. 

“As a young person growing up in a modern day NSW, I cannot fathom such a society,” he said. The bill will now proceed for debate in the Legislative Council, where it is expected to pass with majority support.