Twenty years after laws criminalising homosexual activity in the state were repealed, the Tasmanian Government has officially apologised for the pain suffered by the LGBTI community.

Acting Attorney-General Matthew Groom told the Tasmanian Parliament "we are sorry".

"We hope those affected will accept our acknowledgement that those laws were wrong."

Tasmania was the last jurisdiction to decriminalise sex between adult men in private, in 1997, after decades of campaigning by the gay community.

Premier Will Hodgman said the Government apologised "to those directly affected in this way, to their family and loved ones".

The records of people convicted under the now-repealed laws criminalising "sexual intercourse against the order of nature", "consensual sexual intercourse between males" and "indecent practices between males" are set to be expunged, a move foreshadowed in 2015, but yet to officially take place.

Today, Mr Hodgman said the Government was "seeking to remedy this as far as possible through this legislation".

"It is our view that the broader Tasmanian community would believe that people should never have been charged or convicted in the first place, even if it was thought at the time it was the right thing to do, it was not," Mr Hodgman said.

"Many Tasmanian have continued to suffer from distress and disadvantage as a result of the criminalisation of conduct that is now accepted as lawful.

"Despite the repeal of homosexual offences, some continue to have criminal records that affect various aspects of their lives such as work, volunteering or travelling.

"It's hard for those of us not in that situation to imagine what it would feel like to have a criminal record for something that today that is accepted as lawful.

"This bill seeks to rectify that."

Labor, Greens offer apology

Labor leader Rebecca White said an apology was "long overdue" for the "terrible injustice done as a result of these laws".

"The harm caused by these laws is unfathomable, the scars caused by these laws are still visible and the memory of these laws is still hurtful," she said.

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor asked the LGBTI Tasmanian community "to forgive us for not holding you in our arms".

"To every Tasmanian who with this stain on their record, [who] was forced to leave this island, who has suffered ever since ... we need to acknowledge that," she said.

"This apology doesn't change the history, but what it does do is make it very clear to those who suffered, those who have fought so hard for change, that the Tasmanian Parliament recognises a terrible historical wrong."

Rodney Croome, a gay rights activist who was arrested under the laws in 1997, congratulated Mr Hodgman's stance over the long-running issue.

"Will Hodgman was the first leader of an Australian government to commit to an apology, back in 2015," Mr Croome posted on Facebook.

He paid tribute to Mr Hodgman as "the first Liberal leader to offer one".