It was an apology Alan Raabe waited nearly 30 years to hear. Or, as it turned out, to read.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stood in the Queensland Parliament on Thursday afternoon to apologise to the 548 victims of the state's draconian anti-homosexual laws.
As one of those victims, who has lived with a criminal conviction since 1988, Mr Raabe said a dark cloud that had followed him for half his life had cleared.
"It feels amazing; I'm pretty emotional," he said.
"I'll have to wait until I get home and settled for it to really sink in, I think."
Home for Mr Raabe these days is Lismore, in northern New South Wales, about 1880 kilometres from where his life changed in an instant back in 1988.
It was then, in Cairns, that Mr Raabe fell victim to a police sting targeting homosexual behaviour.
His offence? Brushing the groin of an undercover police officer, who has lured him into a dark corner of a park late at night.
Mr Raabe was charged with aggravated sexual assault and subsequently convicted.
The effect on his career was devastating. A dream of becoming a teacher was left in tatters and Mr Raabe has lived with the shame of a criminal conviction ever since.
Mr Raabe laughed when asked what he was feeling as he heard the apology read out.
"I couldn't hear it because I'm quite deaf," he laughed.
"When I read it, though, it was like a weight lifted off. To be acknowledged, to have the shame of it acknowledged and that it was unjust and not right.
"To have someone acknowledge that is quite an amazing thing and for them to say they're sorry that it happened, that's very, very special."
Along with the apology, the Palaszczuk government has introduced legislation to expunge the convictions of members of the LGBTI community who did nothing more than engage in consensual adult sexual behaviour.
It was expected to pass through Parliament with the support of the Liberal National Party opposition.
Free of his conviction, Mr Raabe said he would finally be able to travel overseas, without the stress that a criminal record could prevent his safe passage.
"There's no more in the back of your head having to worry about getting caught in customs, that will be gone," he said.
"That constant little niggling won't be there any more."
