Hirono, Colleagues Introduce the Right to Private Conduct Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined eight of her Democratic colleagues in introducing the Right to Private Conduct Act, a bill to protect the rights to privacy and liberty granted by the Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas. This legislation would prevent any person acting under color of State law from inhibiting an individual’s right to engage in private, non-commercial, consensual sexual conduct between adults. 

“As the far-right majority on the Supreme Court works to overturn fundamental rights, this legislation will protect the right to privacy for consenting adults,” said Senator Hirono. 

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 from to 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 data privacy, it is critical that all Americans maintain those protected rights. 

In addition to Senator Hirono, the bill was introduced by U.S. Representatives Mark Takano (D-CA), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Katie Porter (D-CA), and Dwight Evans (D-PA), and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

This bill has been endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, PFLAG, and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

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