We refuse to stay silent while California Asm. Ash Kalra blocks the widely popular bill to end child marriage, a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
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.
Our research 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.
This calls for a protest.
We at Unchained At Last urge you to Chain-In with us in San Jose on July 18. We’ll gather outside Asm. Kalra’s district office wearing bridal gowns and veils, with our arms chained and mouths taped, to protest forced and child marriage and urge him to pass AB2924, the simple, commonsense bill that would end child marriage in California.
We provide the bridal gowns, veils and chains. All you need to do is register here – and join us to insist Asm. Kalra and California legislators end child marriage!
Speakers include:
We also will sing and chant against forced and child marriage, including a rendition of The Girls You Have Destroyed, a chilling poem/song we wrote about child marriage in the United States.
Chain-In San Jose
July 18 | 10:00 a.m. PT
Outside Asm. Ash Kalra’s office
111 W St. John St., San Jose, CA 95113
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.
Join the movement. Chain-In with us to demand an end to this human rights abuse.
