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.