A special commission of inquiry into historical LGBT hate crimes in NSW will aim to provide "some recognition of the truth" as it investigates dozens of deaths, many of them "lonely and terrifying".
Led by Justice John Sackar, the inquiry is said to be the first of its kind in the world and was established in April, following recommendations by a parliamentary committee last year.
Through public and private hearings, it will consider suspected hate crime deaths that occurred between 1970 and 2010 that remain unsolved despite previous police investigation.
During an opening address, Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray SC said many of the deaths were "lonely and terrifying" and involved victims who suffered discrimination before their lives were "tragically cut short".
Some were "obviously murders", he said, while others "may well have been" — and the response of the community, of society and of its institutions was "sadly lacking".
"All these lives, of every one of these people, mattered," Mr Gray said.
"They mattered to them, to their loved ones, and ultimately to all of us. And their deaths matter.
"This special commission, by shining a light on everything that is known and can be found out about what happened, will aim to provide some recognition of the truth."
Two 2018 reports — one by peak LGBTQI body ACON and another by NSW Police Strike Force Parrabell — have previously investigated some 88 deaths between 1976 and 2000 that may have involved gay hate, anti-gay bias or sexuality or gender bias.
While fewer than half were regarded as "unsolved", the two reports reached different views as to the exact number.
Mr Gray said those two important reports were in some ways "the culmination of a long-term building-up of concern in many parts of the community about the levels of violence, including homicides, committed against LGBTIQ people, especially in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s."
The unsolved matters which were part of those 88 deaths will be considered by the current inquiry.
In its final report last year, a parliamentary committee found historically the NSW Police Force "failed in its responsibility" to properly investigate cases of gay and transgender hate crime, which "undermined the confidence" of LGBT communities in the police force and criminal justice system.
ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill said Sydney was "a very, very scary place" in the 1980s, during the early days of the HIV epidemic when fear and stigma was directed towards LGBT communities.
"We also saw that homophobia and transphobia sort of influencing governments and government services, and the tolerance for homophobia was really high," he told the ABC.
Opportunistic violence, which at times resulted in murder, was "incredibly elevated" and "brutal", he said, and was "almost seen as a sport".
Mr Parkhill described the cases at the centre of the current inquiry as hideous crimes.
"We're talking about murder, we're talking about people being thrown off cliffs, we're talking about people being bashed in parks to death by not just one or two people, but by groups of people."
Mr Parkhill described a "real lethargy and ambivalence" from authorities when it came to investigating.
"Often they were ignored, cases weren't heard, or the police would write them off as suicide."
Historian Garry Wotherspoon said the inquiry would look into "a dark part of Sydney's history".
"But it finally is about to have a good searchlight put on this very sad part of our city's history," he said, acknowledging much progress had been made.
"It's good that those things are addressed, revealed and then the world can move on."
The current inquiry expects to hold two sets of public hearings this year; one later this month and another in December.
The first tranche of hearings will involve evidence about the experiences of LGBTIQ people who lived through the period between 1970 and 2010, including the changing approaches by police.
Further public and private hearings will continue next year.
