Reflecting on Tasmania's anniversary of repealing anti-gay laws 26 years on

May 1 marks 26 years since Tasmania decriminalised homosexuality.

Tasmania was the last Australian state or territory to make this move, with South Australia being the first in 1975.

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It became federal law in Australia on November, 4 1976.

Equality Tasmania president Rodney Croome was paramount in Tasmania finally decriminalising homosexuality, having taken the matter to the High Court of Australia with the case that the anti-gay law was inconsistent with federal law.

Mr Croome said the decriminalisation was a turning point not only for the LGBTQIA+ community but for Tasmania.

"Decriminalisation freed LGBTQIA+ Tasmanians from an unjust criminal stigma that had destroyed lives, and driven young people to the mainland or suicide," he said.

"It opened the gate to a new, more tolerant, Tasmania that has gone on to adopt some of the most progressive LGBTQIA+ laws in the world."

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North West Pride president Garry Wakefield said he remembered when the laws were repealed, he was just 14 years-old at the time.

"I was at that age when I was starting to discover my sexuality and I remember being so confused, I felt attracted to other boys, but I had never met anyone else who was like that, I hadn't seen anyone on TV that was like that, I very much felt isolated and alone," Mr Wakefield said.

"When the law was being debated, there was so much hate and fear being spread around.

"It was talked about it on the news and that's when I realised that there were other people like me, but they were criminals - bad guys - and I didn't want to be a bad guy."

Mr Wakefield said the repeal saved his life.

"This legal change happened right a time in my life when I needed it to, it helped saved my life," he said.

"The impact of this change cannot be understated - after being cast as villains and something to be feared for so long, the community became human again and we started to feel safe to be ourselves."

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In 2023, the LGBTQIA+ community are fighting for the state government to ban conversion therapy.

It was announced in 2022 a bill would be introduced to ban conversion therapy practice in Tasmania, after the Tasmanian Law Reform Commission's conversion practices report.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the ban was something that had to be done right and a bill would be tabled in 2023.

"The departments of health and justice are undertaking further policy analysis and stakeholder engagement to properly evaluate the law reform institute recommendations," Mr Rockliff said.

"I can assure you our government is committed to making decisions based on expert advice and best practice."

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