We at Unchained At Last descended on the Jersey Shore yesterday with some 50 activists – most of us wearing white bridal gowns and veils, with chains on our wrists – for the first ever Chain-In Celebration.

We cheered the heroes and allies – including New Jersey’s Sen. Nellie Pou and Asm. Nancy Munoz – who helped us to achieve our historic victories in Delaware and New Jersey, where we (finally!) ended child marriage. And we sent a powerful message to the 48 other states: We’re coming for you next.

Speakers included:

• Kelly Flannery, Human Rights Watch
• Kate Kelly, Equality Now
• Deb Huber, National Organization for Women of New Jersey
• Rachel Gallagher, Westfield 20/20
• Naila Amin, Naila Amin Foundation

Nearly 30 protesters joined Unchained At Last outside the office of Assemblyman Gary Schaer in Passaic – dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with arms chained and mouths taped – to send a powerful message to Schaer and other New Jersey lawmakers: Pass A865, the bill to end child marriage, without exceptions.

“Gary Schaer. Show you care. Let’s be just like Delaware,” the protesters chanted from the sidewalk outside Schaer’s office.

New Jersey was about to become the second U.S. state to end all child marriage, until the assembly speaker pulled A865 from the assembly agenda on May 24 at the request of Asm. Gary Schaer, who wants to weaken the bill and leave children at risk of forced child marriage. His reason: Schaer suddenly decided ending a human-rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives might somehow offend the Orthodox Jewish community. We believe Schaer was only referring to one biblical law, one that required a rapist to marry his victim and pay her father 50 shekels of silver.

Speakers included:

• Deb Huber, National Organization for Women of New Jersey
• Rachel Gallagher, Westfield 20/20
• Kelly Flannery, Human Rights Watch
• Naila Amin, Naila Amin Foundation
• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last

Child Marriage in New Jersey

New Jersey was poised to become the second U.S. state to end child marriage. And then Asm. Schaer showed up.

The marriage age in New Jersey, like in most U.S. states, is 18. However, children age 16 or 17 can marry with parental “consent” – which is often parental “coercion.” When a child is forced to marry, the perpetrators are almost always the parents. And children of any age can marry with judicial approval – but when a child is forced to marry, the child also is forced to lie to the judge about it.

Since 1995, more than 3,600 children as young as 13 were married in New Jersey, and almost all were girls wed to adult men. In some 160 of those cases, a judge approved the marriage of a child to an adult with an age difference that constitutes statutory rape.

A865 is a simple, commonsense bill with strong, bipartisan support: It eliminates the parental-consent and judicial-approval loopholes. More than half of New Jersey legislators, from both parties, have signed on to the bill as sponsors. In fact, the same bill passed last year with only five no votes out of 120 legislators – but then Gov. Chris Christie, America’s most hated governor, conditionally vetoed it.

Under New Jersey’s new, improved governor, the bill was progressing rapidly again. It already passed in the senate and looked like an easy pass in the assembly, before Schaer pushed Speaker Coughlin to remove it from the agenda.

Schaer now is pushing to set the marriage age at 16 instead of 18, similar to what Christie tried unsuccessfully to do last year. However, more than 95 percent of the children who marry in New Jersey are age 16 or 17, which means Schaer wants the state to end a human-rights abuse, just not for 95 percent of the people impacted by it. That would be like banning age discrimination in hiring practices, except when a job candidate is over age 50.

Further, setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage has a legal and logical basis: That’s the age at which a child becomes an adult and attains the rights necessary to navigate a contract as important as marriage. Setting the age at 16 is completely arbitrary, with no legal or logical basis.

No part of Jewish law – or any other major religion’s law – requires child marriage, as Schaer knows. Besides, the U.S. supreme court has upheld legislation that incidentally forbids an act required by religion, as long as the legislation does not target religious practice.

A group of nearly 30 dancers, dressed in bridal gowns with chained wrists, suddenly broke into dance outside the student center at Rutgers University.

The flash mob – which was choreographed and performed by the talented sisters of Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority – was filmed by NowThis.

The Chain-In Flash Mob was made possible by generous support from Lush Charity Pot.

Child Marriage in America

Marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states. Laws in 22 states do not specify any minimum marriage age.

Child marriage often is forced marriage, because children 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 destroys girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and significantly increases their risk of being beaten by their spouse.

We lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in America by passing simple, commonsense legislation in all 50 states and at the federal level.

Some Progress

We’ve made some progress in our national movement to end child marriage. Strong legislation we helped to write to end all marriage before 18 passed this month in the New Jersey senate and is pending in the assembly. Another bill passed last week in the Delaware house and heads now to the senate.

But legislators in other states across the U.S. have rejected or watered down the legislation. Many have insisted a teenage girl who gets pregnant has no choice but to marry, even if she was raped.

The Chain-In

That’s why we invented the Chain-In, at which we gather in bridal gowns and veils, with our wrists chained and mouths taped, to show legislators what life looks like for a girl who is forced to marry. And that’s why now invented the Chain-In Flash Mob.

A group of nearly 50 protesters of all ages, dressed in bridal gowns, chains and veils, joined Unchained At Last for a Chain-In outside of NJ Asm. Jon Bramnick’s office on June 14, 2017 – to urge Bramnick to stand up to Gov. Chris Christie and withdraw A4883, the bill Bramnick introduced to accept Christie’s conditional veto of A3091. That bill would have ended child marriage in New Jersey.

Survivors and activists, including high school and middle school students, addressed the crowd  sharing powerful stories of forced child marriage and voicing outrage that child marriage remains legal in New Jersey because of Christie’s veto.

“Do I look old enough to get married?” asked eighth grader Sophie Tannenbaum.

“NO!” the protesters replied.

Speakers who addressed the crowd at the Chain-In included:

• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
• Naila Amin, Naila Amin Foundation
• Katie Foley, Westfield High School student and activist
• Deb Huber, National Organization for Women-NJ
• Sophie Tannenbaum, student at Edison Intermediate School in Westfield
• Rev. Chani Getter, interfaith minister
• Mandi Zucker, social activist and co-chair of the social-action committee of Temple Emanu-El
• Sophie Hurwitz, Westfield High School student and activist

Saxophonist Chris Lijoi led protesters as they sang “We Are Girls, Not Brides,” a haunting song written by girls in Zambia and owned by Girls Not Brides.

Read more about the Chain-In in TAPinto Westfield. And read here about Unchained’s past Chain-Ins.

SHOCKING VETO

Under current law in New Jersey, children age 16 or 17 can marry with parental “consent” (which often is “coercion”). Children 15 and younger – with no minimum age – can marry with judicial approval (and the law does not specify any criteria that a judge must consider).

Some 3,600 children as young as 13 were married in New Jersey between 1995 and 2014 – almost all girls wed to adult men. More than 105 of them were married, with judicial approval, to older spouses with an age difference that constitutes statutory rape. Yet Christie insisted with his conditional veto that this same failed judicial-review process now be used for children at precisely the ages, 16 and 17, when they face the greatest risk of forced marriage.

Further, Christie’s conditional veto did not even try to address the two main reasons we must end child marriage. First, children can easily be forced into marriage or forced to stay in a marriage before they turn 18 and become legal adults. They face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home, access a shelter, retain an attorney or bring a legal action.

Second, the lifelong impacts of marriage before 18 on girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and overall quality of life are devastating enough that the U.S. State Department considers marriage before 18 a “human rights abuse.”

Bramnick, in his bill to accept Christie’s unacceptable conditional veto, added a line about allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to marry if they would suffer “substantial harm” by not marrying. This language is offensive to children. How can a child suffer “substantial harm” by NOT being subjected to a human-rights abuse? Is Bramnick providing cover for the parents and judges who have been caught forcing pregnant girls to marry their own rapist?

Unchained urges Bramnick: Do not cave to a governor who has shown deplorable lack of concern about children. Stand up to the governor. Override his veto.

Photo Credit: Christina Morris

Some 30 protesters joined Unchained At Last for a Chain-In in Trenton on June 1, 2017 – dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with arms chained and mouths taped – to send a powerful message to New Jersey legislators: override Gov. Christie’s conditional veto of A3091, the bill that would end child marriage in New Jersey.

Photo Credit: Kyle O’Leary

The activists who addressed the crowd at the the Chain-In included:

• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
• Sarah Taylor, Human Rights Watch
• Deb Huber, National Organization for Women – NJ
• Sonia Ossorio, National Organization for Women – NYC
• Dawn Mackey, activist

Read more about the Chain-In the Star-Ledger. And read here about Unchained’s past Chain-Ins.

HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSE

Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they cannot easily access legal and other resources.

Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 US states, and many thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In Massachusetts alone, some 1,190 children as young as 14 were married between 2000 and 2014 – mostly girls wed to adult men. And forced marriage happens to adults too, but the US has long lagged behind other countries in acknowledging and responding to this human rights abuse.

The solution? Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the US, state by state, by writing, introducing and passing legislation to eliminate marriage before age 18.

Join the movement. Chain-In with us at a future Chain-In to grab the attention of policymakers and the public, and help end child marriage in America.

Were you among the some 20 protesters who joined Unchained At Last for a Chain-In in Boston on May 11, 2017 – dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with arms chained and mouths taped – to send a powerful message to legislators: Pass S785/H2310 and end child marriage in Massachusetts?

Photo credit for first 17 photos: Susan Landmann
Photo credit for last 3 photos: Tira Khan

The Chain-In drew a large crowd of onlookers and garnered significant media attention. Here are links to some of the news stories:

• WGBH
• MassLive
• WBUR
• WCVB5 (ABC)
• Metro

The activists who addressed the crowd at the the Chain-In included:

• Rep. Kay Khan, Massachusetts
• Sen. Harriette Chandler, Massachusetts
• Amanda Parker, AHA Foundation
• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
• Kian Khadem, Brookline High School Students Against Child Marriage Club

Read here about Unchained’s past Chain-Ins.

HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES

Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they cannot easily access legal and other resources.

Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 US states, and many thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In Massachusetts alone, some 1,190 children as young as 14 were married between 2000 and 2014 – mostly girls wed to adult men. And forced marriage happens to adults too, but the US has long lagged behind other countries in acknowledging and responding to this human rights abuse.

The solution? Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the US, state by state, by writing, introducing and passing legislation to eliminate marriage before age 18.

Join the movement. Chain-In with us at a future Chain-In to grab the attention of policymakers and the public, and help end child marriage in America.

We at Unchained At Last held a Chain-In on February 14 in the New York Statehouse to protest child marriage and forced marriage in New York and across the US. We wore bridal gowns and veils, with our arms chained, to send a powerful message to legislators: End child marriage in New York.

The Chain-In garnered significant media attention, helping to achieve one of its goals: to raise awareness about what used to be a little-known human-rights abuse. Here are just a few of the media stories about the Chain-In:

• Washington Post (via Associated Press)
• Times Union (including video)
• Daily Freeman News (including video)

Unchained is proud and grateful that the survivors, activists and allies who addressed the crowd at the the Chain-In/One Billion Rising event included:

• N.Y. Assembly Member Amy Paulin
• N.Y. City Council Member Andrew Cohen
• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
• Saima Anjam, NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Alexandra Kotowski, Human Rights Watch

Unchained also is proud and grateful that Girls Not Brides granted permission for protesters at the Chain-In/One Billion Rising event to sing “We Are Girls, Not Brides,” a haunting song written by girls in Zambia.

Read here about Unchained’s other Chain-Ins.

HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES

Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they cannot easily access legal and other resources.

Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states, and many thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In New York alone, more than 3,850 children as young as 14 were married between 2000 and 2010. And forced marriage happens to adults too, but the U.S. has long lagged behind other countries in acknowledging and responding to this human rights abuse.

The solution? Let’s start by reserving marriage, a serious legal contract, for those who have reached the age of majority. We Chained-In to grab the attention of policymakers and the public, and make sure lawmakers pass legislation to end child marriage.

The scene outside Newark Penn Station in New Jersey on July 26, 2016, was startling: Some 35 protesters stood dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with their arms chained and mouths taped, chanting and singing.

The protesters were part of the second Chain-In organized by Unchained At Last to protest forced and child marriage in the US. Their demand: that New Jersey legislators pass A3091, the bill to end child marriage, and that legislators in other states follow that lead.

“3-0-9-1! We won’t stop until it’s done!” the Chain-In protesters chanted, waving signs that read, “Stop child marriage in NJ! Pass A3091.”

Child marriage often is forced marriage, Fraidy Reiss, Unchained’s founder and executive director, told the crowd via a megaphone. Further, the effects of child marriage on a girl’s life are devastating enough that the US State Department considers it a human-rights abuse, she continued. Yet child marriage is legal in New Jersey and every other US state, Reiss declared.

“Are we OK with that?” Reiss asked the protesters.

“No!” they shouted.

After a series of fiery speeches and boisterous chants, the Chain-In culminated with protesters singing “We Are Girls, Not Brides,” a haunting song written by girls in Zambia. (Girls Not Brides granted permission for protesters to sing the song.)

Enjoy the Star-Ledger’s story about the Chain-In, as well as the WABC-TV piece and the WBGO radio story.

Thank You

If you were part of the Chain-In, thank you for helping to send a powerful message about forced and child marriage.

Thank you, too, to the energetic speakers who addressed the crowd at the Chain-In, some who traveled from distant states for the protest:

• Amanda Parker, AHA Foundation
• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
• Helena Minchew, Girls Not Brides USA
• Jeanne Smoot, Tahirih Justice Center
• Naila Amin, activist and survivor of forced child marriage
• Sarah Bosakowski, Unchained At Last
• Sonia Ossorio, National Organization for Women – New York City

Finally, thank you to the many volunteers who made the Chain-In possible, including photographer Susan Landmann and videographer Chaya Reiss.

How to Help End Child and Forced Marriage

Whether or not you joined the Chain-In, you can take these steps:

• Urge key lawmakers to pass bills to end child marriage. It’s easy to do: Just submit these pre-filled emails.
• Support Unchained financially. Even a small donation makes a huge difference to a woman or a girl fleeing a forced marriage.
• Stay updated on news about forced marriage in the US – and about the next Chain-In.  Make sure you’re included on the Unchained mailing list, “like” Unchained on Facebook, and follow Unchained on Twitter.
• Volunteer your time to help a woman or a girl who is facing a forced marriage. Unchained relies on the kindness of pro bono attorneys, psychotherapists and others.

Learn more here about past and future Chain-Ins.

Photo credit: Susan Landmann

Unchained organized its first Chain-In on April 14, 2015, in Union Square, New York City, to protest forced marriage in the U.S. Some 60 survivors, advocates and supporters gathered with their arms chained and their mouths taped shut, to show the world what life looks like for the many thousands of girls and women in forced marriages right here in the U.S. (At this first Chain-In, protesters did not wear bridal gowns and veils.)

“End forced marriage now,” the protesters chanted (those whose mouths were not taped).

The protesters included forced-marriage survivors, advocates and supporters. A series of survivors and advocates addressed the crowd over a megaphone.

“I was told I had a choice,” Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained, told the protesters as she described her own abusive arranged marriage. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Jasvinder Sanghera, a forced marriage survivor who founded Karma Nirvana to help forced marriage victims in the UK, talked about her sister, who killed herself to escape a horrific forced marriage. And Kavitha Rajagopalan, adviser to the Unchained board, described the many arranged marriages in her own family.

Sometimes forced marriage is couched as “arranged marriage,” the speakers noted.

“Is it arranged or is it forced?” asked Lani Santo, executive director of Footsteps, which helps people leave the Orthodox Jewish community. Santo described the ordeal many Footsteppers have endured: teenagers who are given a half hour or less to “decide” whether to marry a prospective match.

Stephanie Baric, executive director of the AHA Foundation, noted that forced marriage happens in many cultures and religions. “People often dismissed forced marriage as ‘their culture,’ but it is OUR society,” Baric said.

Were you at the Chain-In? Either way, click here to see photos from it.

Forced marriage. It happens here. Help make it stop.

THANK YOU

Thank you to all the people who Chained-In on April 14, 2015, and to the speakers who engaged and enlightened them.

Thank you, too, to these people who made the Chain-In possible: David Cohen of Bungalow Entertainment, Heather Braun and Lauren Gottleib.

A special thank you to photographer Susan Landmann and filmmakers Lindsay Rothenberg and Trish Dalton, who generously donated their time and talents to capture the Chain-In on film.

ABOUT FORCED MARRIAGE IN THE U.S.

Right here in the U.S., girls and women sometimes are forced, pressured or tricked into marriage. A 2011 study by the Tahirih Justice Center found 3,000 known or suspected cases of girls in the U.S. as young as 15 who had been forced to marry just between 2009 and 2011.

Does that shock you? Perhaps that’s because the U.S. has lagged behind other nations in acknowledging and responding to this human rights violation.

Learn more here about past and future Chain-Ins.