New York Reintroduces Bill To Decriminalize Sex Work

Senator Julia Salazar has introduced Senate Bill S2513, or Cecilia’s Act for Rights in the Sex Trade (Cecilia’s Act), in New York. The bill would decriminalize consensual adult prostitution offenses and amend provisions relating to eliminating prior criminal convictions. In previous legislative sessions, this bill was named the Stop Violence in the Sex Trade Act (SVSTA). It was renamed to honor the legacy of the late Cecilia Gentilia, a beloved advocate for sex workers and human rights.

Cecilia’s Act co-sponsors include Senators Jabari Brisport, Kristen Gonzalez, Cordell Cleare, Robert Jackson, Jessica Ramos, and Luis R. Sepúlveda.

The criminalization of sex work has jeopardized the lives of sex workers in New York for far too long. The criminalization of sex work is associated with increased risk of sexual and physical violence at the hands of clients, third parties, and domestic partners. Criminalization also encourages increased policing among vulnerable communities, resulting in arrests and police brutality. Studies conducted in New York have shown that prostitution-related arrests disproportionately affect Black, Asian, and Hispanic individuals.

Cecilia’s Act amends and repeals several existing statutes and penal codes so that consenting adults who trade sex, collaborate with, support, or patronize adult sex workers are not criminalized. In addition, the bill allows individuals to trade sex in spaces where legal business is permitted while upholding that maintaining exploitative workplaces where coercion and trafficking take place is a felony.

Presently, New York state law has more than two dozen anti-prostitution penal codes. About half of these codes target sex work between consenting adults, and the other half focus on trafficking, the exploitation of minors, and coercion into commercial sex. Cecilia’s Act upholds all felony anti-trafficking statutes that are designed to hold traffickers accountable.

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW) has been actively involved in DecrimNY, a coalition that has been working to protect the human rights of sex workers and survivors of trafficking for many years. The SVSTA was first introduced in 2019, and advocates of decriminalization are pushing for its passage once again. Activists, advocates, and allies will gather in New York’s capital city of Albany in March to lobby in support of the bill.

The decriminalization of sex work is crucial to the health and safety of sex workers and their communities. The passage of Cecilia’s Act would be an enormous step forward for sex workers’ rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, and human rights in general. In contrast, a competing bill, S2005, The Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act, which proposes Entrapment Model legislation, would endanger New York’s sex workers and survivors of trafficking. Read about the failures of the Entrapment Model (also known as the Nordic, Swedish, or Equality Model) here.

New York residents can send an email supporting Cecilia’s Act to their elected representatives here.