Schatz, Takano, Blumenthal Introduce Legislation To Protect Sexual Privacy, Stop Targeted Government Attacks On LGBTQ+ Rights
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced the Right to Private Conduct Act, a bill to protect the rights to privacy and liberty granted by the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas. The legislation would prevent any person acting under color of law from inhibiting an individual’s right to engage in private, non-commercial, consensual sexual conduct between adults.
“Our bill makes one thing clear: what goes on between consenting adults in their private lives is their business, not the government’s,” said Senator Schatz.
“The Supreme Court has grown senseless in their attacks on our rights. As it stands, millions of Americans could see a rollback of their protected rights to make their own personal decisions about fundamentally private matters,” said Representative Takano. “While the threat to reconsider the current interpretations of privacy and liberty affects everyone, it disproportionately affects the LGBTQ+ community. The government has no right to interfere in the sexual relations of any consenting adult, and the Right to Private Conduct Act will finally enshrine this belief into federal law.”
“This measure will counter the Supreme Court’s ongoing attacks on privacy and personal freedom. As extreme justices and judges attempt to roll-back the ability of Americans to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures, I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing the Right to Private Conduct Act,” said Senator Blumenthal. “This legislation will protect all Americans, including the LGBTQ+ community, from invasive government overreach in Americans’ most personal, intimate decisions.”
The landmark Lawrence v. Texas ruling established the right of all adult couples to be free from unwarranted state intrusion into their personal decisions about consensual sexual relationships – a major victory for civil rights that invalidated arcane sodomy laws and paved the way for marriage equality. Prior to Lawrence, sodomy laws allowed law enforcement and community members to violate individual privacy by reporting suspected sexual activity. Although the policing of private spaces affected all individuals and couples, sodomy laws disproportionately targeted and criminalized members of the LGBTQ community, barring individuals from access to employment, housing, parental rights, adoption and foster parenting, and protection under civil rights law.
In the years since the ruling, Lawrence has served as a cornerstone of the emerging legal field of sexual privacy, one which governs laws regarding sexual autonomy, consent, intimacy, and human dignity. In this era of increased concerns surrounding privacy, it is critical that all Americans maintain those protected rights.
In addition to Blumenthal, Schatz’s Senate bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i). Takano’s House bill is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), and Dwight Evans (D-Pa.).
The bill has been endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, PFLAG, and the National Center for Transgender Equality.
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