As you might have read in Mercury News, Newsweek and other news outlets, more than 20 forced and child marriage survivors, activists and allies joined us in San Jose last Thursday to chain-in outside Asm. Ash Kalra’s office, in bridal gowns and chains.
Our message to Kalra was clear: Stop holding up AB2924, the widely popular bill to end child marriage in California and eliminate a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
Forced and child marriage survivors from California and across the United States joined us to share their personal stories and to chant and sing in protest against child marriage. We were joined, as well, by allies from the California Coalition to End Child Marriage, including several members of Zonta International.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states. One of the many ways we advocate for change is by hosting Chain-Ins like this. Read more here about this form of peaceful protest we invented.
Child marriage is an urgent problem in California. Dangerous legal loopholes allow parents to enter a child of ANY AGE into marriage with judicial approval — without any real legal recourse for a child who does not want to marry. And U.S. census data shows that more than 8,000 children (mostly girls) in California are entered into marriage every year — often with devastating, lifelong consequences. All of these marriages legalized what would have been considered a sex crime outside of marriage.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
Let’s continue pushing. Contact Kalra now to remind him that girls matter, and then see other ways you can get involved.
The silence sent a loud message last Thursday, when we held our first-ever Silent Chain-In in Olympia.
More than 20 survivors, allies and legislators joined us to stand silently on the rotunda steps in the state capitol, dressed in bridal gowns and chains. Our message was clear: It is time for Washington legislators to pass HB1455 and end child marriage — a human rights abuse that impacted 5,048 children as young as 13 in Washington between 2000 and 2021, mostly girls wed to adult men, in some cases before the girls were old enough to consent to sex.
Rep. Monica Stonier, the primary sponsor of HB1455 joined us in our silence, as did legislative champions Sen. Derek Stanford – who introduced a companion bill in the senate – and Sen. Manka Dhingra – who is holding a hearing on HB1455 in the senate law and justice committee on Jan. 30. Child marriage survivors Kate Yang and Sara Tasneem and forced marriage survivor Stephanie Warren also joined to share their personal stories. We were joined, as well, by several allies from the Washington Coalition to End Child Marriage, including Michele Hanash of the AHA Foundation and several members of Zonta International, including Katherine Cleland.
Our Silent Chain-In got a lot of attention, including from the Seattle Times (which was also picked up by the Spokesman-Review, the Columbian, the Herald-Palladium and others), NewsRadio 560 KPQ, KPUG, the Northwest News Network, Fox 13 (link not available) and more.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states. One of the many ways we advocate for change is by hosting Chain-Ins like this. Read more here about this form of peaceful protest we invented.
Child marriage is an urgent problem in Washington. Dangerous legal loopholes allow parents to enter a child of ANY AGE into marriage without any input required from the child, and without any real legal recourse for a child who does not want to marry.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
Let’s seize on the momentum. If you live in Washington, contact your senators now and urge them to end child marriage. And wherever you live, here are other ways you can get involved.
We wore bridal gowns and chains last week as we gathered outside the California State Capitol to protest child marriage. More than 20 child marriage survivors and allies joined Chain-In Sacramento — made possible by the generous support of the Conboy Foundation — to urge legislators to end a human rights abuse and nightmarish legal trap that destroys girls’ lives.
Speakers included:
Child marriage is an urgent problem in California, where the effective marriage age is zero. More than 8,000 California children marry each year. Yet state legislators have resisted passing simple, commonsense legislation to make the marriage age 18, no exceptions.
One of the goals of a Chain-In is to get media attention to spread our message, and it worked. Chain-In Sacramento garnered headlines in CalMatters, The Sacramento Bee, KNX News (no link available), KQED, SFGate, VigourTimes, Yahoo News, CapRadio and more.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states. One of the many ways we advocate for change is by hosting Chain-Ins like this. Read more here about this form of peaceful protest we invented.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
Let’s seize on the momentum. If you live in California, contact your legislators now and urge them to end child marriage in California. And wherever you live, here are other ways you can get involved.
WE DID IT!
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we and our allies gathered at the Connecticut State Capitol Friday to urge Connecticut senators to pass HB6569, the simple, commonsense bill that would end child marriage in Connecticut – and we promised to come back every day until the end of the legislative session, unless they passed the bill. And it worked!
Following our Chain-In, we sat in the senate chamber, still in gowns and chains, and watched the senate finally vote UNANIMOUSLY to end child marriage. !!!
The house passed the same bill a few weeks ago, to eliminate a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives. Which means the bill we have been promoting since 2017 to make the marriage age 18, no exceptions, now goes to Gov. Ned Lamont.
And Lamont has promised to sign it.
With passage of this bill, championed by Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and bipartisan legislators, Connecticut will become the ninth U.S. state where our relentless advocacy has helped to end child marriage. (We are doing everything we can to make sure Michigan soon becomes the 10th state.)
Speakers at the Chain-In included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of legislators, passersby and news media, including the Associated Press, NBC Connecticut, Fox News, Connecticut Mirror, The Hartford Courant, CT Insider, WTNH News8, CT News Junkie, The Messenger and more.
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we and our allies gathered at the Michigan State Capitol Thursday to urge Michigan legislators to pass HB4297-4302/SB209-217 & SB246, the simple, commonsense bill package that would end child marriage in Michigan.
Speakers included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and news media, including MLive, WLNS-TV 6, WILX, WWMT News Channel 3, UpNorthLive and more.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
One of the strategies we use in our push to end this human rights abuse is the Chain-In. Read more here about this powerful form of peaceful protest, which we have staged in multiple U.S. states.
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we and our allies marched from Boston Common to the Massachusetts State House to urge Massachusetts legislators to pass H1709/S937 — as we have been pushing them to do since 2017! — and finally eliminate the dangerous legal loopholes that allow marriage before age 18. All Chain-Ins are special, but this Chain-In was extra special: It was filmed for an upcoming documentary series on a major platform.
Speakers included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and international news media, including The Guardian, Agence France-Presse, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Boston University News Service and others.
Photos by Matilde Simas
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, more than 20 of us and our allies gathered in Manhattan today to celebrate that New York just ended child marriage — but also to protest that 44 U.S. states still allow this human rights abuse.
Speakers included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including the Independent and others.
We at Unchained lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in every U.S. state and at the federal level — as part of our mission to end all forms of forced marriage through direct services and advocacy.
Child marriage often is forced marriage, because minors face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or bring a legal action such as a divorce before they turn 18. Further, child marriage is recognized as a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and significantly increases their risk of experiencing domestic violence.
One of the strategies we use in our push to end this human rights abuse is the Chain-In. Read more here about this powerful form of peaceful protest, which we have staged in multiple U.S. states.
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we descended on the Minnesota state capitol building on Thursday, chanting, singing and marching through the building to protest forced and child marriage and tell legislators this Valentine’s Day that there is nothing romantic about child marriage.
As usual, our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including ABC, CBS, TwinCities.com, DL-Online, WCCO Radio and The Bemidji Pioneer.
Speakers included:
Our message to legislators was clear: It’s time to pass SF1393 and make Minnesota the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to end child marriage.
We at Unchained At Last lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by eliminating the legal loopholes in all 50 states and at the federal level that allow, and even encourage, child marriage. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, do not specify any minimum age for marriage.
Read more here about Chain-Ins, the powerful form of peaceful protest that we invented to raise awareness of forced and child marriage in the United States.
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we descended on the Pennsylvania statehouse Wednesday, chanting, singing and marching through the building to protest forced and child marriage.
As usual, our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including PennLive, PAHomepage/Eyewitness News and ABC.
Speakers included:
Our message to legislators and the governor was clear: It’s time to pass HB360/SB81 and make Pennsylvania the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to end child marriage.
We at Unchained At Last lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by eliminating the legal loopholes in all 50 states and at the federal level that allow, and even encourage, child marriage. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, do not specify any minimum age for marriage.
Read more here about Chain-Ins, the powerful form of peaceful protest that we invented to raise awareness of forced and child marriage in the United States.
Even if Massachusetts legislators somehow missed the group of chained brides singing, chanting and marching through the statehouse to the governor’s office last week to protest forced and child marriage, they could not have missed the extensive coverage of our Chain-In in outlets including:
Our message to legislators was clear: It’s time to pass H1478/S24 and make Massachusetts the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to end child marriage. Eleven other states have similar legislation pending.
We chanted, “Bill S24: child marriage, there’s the door!” and “1-4-7-8, girls in MA cannot wait!” to make our voices heard about child marriage, and then marched to Gov. Charlie Baker’s office while singing, “We Are Girls, Not Brides,” a haunting song written by a group of girls in Zambia.
We at Unchained At Last lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by eliminating the legal loopholes in all 50 states and at the federal level that allow, and even encourage, child marriage. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, do not specify any minimum age for marriage.
Read more here about Chain-Ins, the powerful form of peaceful protest that we invented to raise awareness of forced and child marriage in the United States.
