Nearly 30 protesters joined Unchained At Last outside the office of Assemblyman Gary Schaer in Passaic on Sunday – 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. 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.