Advocates are welcoming tougher penalties after violent attacks against gay and bisexual teens lured on dating apps by religiously motivated offenders.
But LGBTQI groups want more action, including full inclusion in hate speech laws covering incitement to violence and hatred on the basis of sexuality.
Proposed laws were introduced to NSW parliament on Tuesday to crack down on "post and boast" offences to cover serious assaults and robberies that have left members of the queer community reeling.
The NSW legislation creates a new penalty for offenders who lure victims on false pretences, including via dating apps.
The changes come after an explosive ABC investigation in February uncovered confronting videos of Islamic State sympathisers hunting and bashing gay and bisexual boys on camera in Sydney.
Some of the victims were kicked, punched and verbally abused with homophobic epithets before videos of the "bait and bash" attacks were posted in social media chats.
Long-term advocate and independent MP Alex Greenwich welcomed the legislation but said stronger protections, better access to justice and improved education were also needed.
"You should be able to seek a hook-up on an app and not be met with violence," he said.
"(But) we still need to do better.
"In NSW, at a young age, school children in private and religious schools are taught it is so wrong to be LGBTQ that you could be expelled from school, you could be punished … our laws allow and protect that."
Inner City Legal Centre CEO Katie Green, whose organisation provides legal support for LGBTQI people, revealed an International Women's Day event the group held for bisexual transgender people was targeted online with graphic, violent threats.
But police, along with the eSafety Commissioner, struggled to deal with the posts because they were calls for, rather than actual, violence.
"People were online threatening to come down with guns, threatening to take out all of the 'mentally ill people' ... hundreds of people commenting 'Let's go down there and bash up these men in skirts'," Ms Green said.
"It's almost like our police are not empowered to act until after a violent crime has been committed, not before and not at the stage where it's all on the internet.
"I cannot speak about how harmful that is to our community."
Premier Chris Minns declined to reveal whether a recently received review of criminal hate speech protections recommended full protection for the LGBTQI community.
But the report was being considered seriously, he said.
Publicly threatening or inciting violence on the grounds of a protected attribute, such as sexual orientation or gender identity, would be increased from three to five years imprisonment, the government said.
An aggravated version of this offence will also be created, carrying up to seven years' behind bars.
Other amendments will make it easier for prosecutors to prove an offence was motivated by prejudice or hatred.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
