Chief Executive Officer for LGTBI health organisation ACON, Nicolas Parkhill, says he wants answers for one of Sydney's biggest unsolved crime waves that spanned the 1970s to 1990s.
"Justice hasn't been served for the victims and, certainly, justice has not been served for the families, so there's a lot of healing that needs to occur," said Mr Parkhill.
Eighty-eight deaths are being reviewed by NSW Police to determine how many might have been gay hate murders. Thirty of those cases remain unsolved.
Many of the deaths happened between the Bondi and Tamarama headlands in Sydney. The area was a gay beat where homosexual men met for casual sex.
NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor, Chris Pycroft, says it was a different world back then.
"When a number of these crimes were taking place homosexuality was still illegal in NSW, there was a lot of stigma and certainly a lot of community angst around homosexuality. We were seeing increased rates of homophobia and hate crimes within the gay and lesbian community," said Mr Pycroft.
For the past 18 months, Superintendent Tony Crandell from the NSW Police Force has been in charge of Operation Parabell, reviewing these deaths.
The police have already admitted they have found examples of gaps in old cases. Now they are being considered for re-investigation.
"In my opinion, we still see a lot more biased crimes going forward from the police force. It's very very important that we are able to correctly classify crimes, and not necessarily have to go back in different times in history to correct record," said Superintendent Crandell.
A review is also being carried out by ACON in the hope of gathering additional witnesses and information to these crimes.
ACON is also working with Waverley Council to construct a memorial to the victims of these potential gay hate crimes along Bondi's coastline. It is hoped it will be completed within the next two years.
"It starts with acknowledgment and hopefully it finishes with at least giving loved ones or family members some sense of satisfaction that the police force are doing all that they can from this point in time," said Superintendent Crandell.
NSW Police hoping this will help to bridge the gap between authorities and the LGBTIQ community.
