Parliament is being asked to undo some of the pain from years of homosexuality being illegal, by pardoning those who were convicted.

A petition is currently being considered by Select Committee, to wipe the convictions of people who were arrested before homosexual law reform in 1986.

Humanist Society member Hugh Young says he was deeply closeted in the eighties, even to himself, because of the climate of shame and fear.

"For even a hint of attraction to your own sex, for example signing a petition in support of law reform, you could lose your family, your friends, your home, your job."

Clearing old convictions would require going case by case, but Parliament's been told, the effort is worth it.

Humanist Society vice president Mark Honeychurch says people don't deserve to have a conviction on their record, for what was a consensual act between adults.

"There were maybe one thousand or more cases - from what I read, in the 80s I think there were 800-odd convictions - but it sounds like maybe it's not too onerous to go through all of them."