Major reforms need to follow historic gay apology: MP

But as that historic apology approaches, the only openly gay member of the state's lower house has called on the government to commit to doing better by the queer community.

"Get out of our bedrooms, get out of our pants and let us live our lives," Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said on Thursday.

Cruel laws criminalising homosexuality were in place for decades and the impact on the wellbeing of gay men then was still reflected in the experience of the transgender community today, he said.

Mr Greenwich has put a bill to NSW parliament in an attempt to protect the rights of LGBTQI community members, such as guarding gay teachers from being fired from their jobs due to their sexuality.

He said he was open to negotiating amendments to his bill where its aims were otherwise addressed, citing the recent introduction of a legal framework for gender-affirming care as an example.

"The important thing is that these reforms are achieved," Mr Greenwich said.

The independent MP's call came before Premier Chris Minns' expected landmark apology in parliament.

Advocates say the move is long overdue, given NSW will be the last Australian state to issue an apology.

Victoria was the first state to formally apologise with South Australia doing so in 2016, before Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania followed suit in 2017.

Peter de Waal has spent years campaigning for the NSW government to apologise for criminalising homosexual acts, but admits it will be "bittersweet" when it finally comes.

His late partner Peter "Bon" Bonsall-Boone lived nearly six decades as a criminal, repeatedly denied opportunities in life after being convicted of two offences for homosexual acts when he was 20.

Mr de Waal said he was grateful for the apology, but he wished his late partner could be there to get the "sorry" he deserved.

Mr Bonsall-Boone died in 2017 after battling cancer, just two weeks after his criminal record was expunged.

"It's a bittersweet victory, so to speak, that we're getting that apology, but he personally can never feel what it's like to have a government say 'what we did to you having those laws in place was wrong'," Mr de Waal told AAP.

He added the effect the convictions had on his partner's life could not be understated as he was often denied opportunities due to his criminal status.

Mr Bonsall-Boone could not be a juror or a Justice of the Peace, was not able to work in the public service, struggled to get a bank loan to buy a house and was even kicked out of a theological college where he was trying to become an Anglican priest.

"It isn't just that they were called criminals, but the effect they had on lives," Mr de Waal said.

"It's a shame on those who made the laws ... I know that goes back a long, long time, but they should have been repealed years and years ago."

Announcing the apology in May, Mr Minns acknowledged it would not remedy the discrimination that was experienced by many, but it might bring closure to some.

Penny Sharpe, the first openly gay woman to enter NSW parliament in 2005, said the apology acknowledged the harm caused.

"Decriminalisation of homosexuality was a significant step that smashed through the wall of laws that allowed discrimination against gay men and the LGBTQ community," she previously said.

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