Our planned Perpetual Chain-In in NYC is going to turn into a celebration, because Gov. Andrew Cuomo just signed S3086 — championed by Sen. Julia Salazar and Asm. Phil Ramos — to end child marriage in New York. !!!
When the bill goes into effect in 30 days, New York will become the sixth U.S. state to end all marriage before 18, no exceptions. That means we have “only” 44 states to go in our national movement to end child marriage in the U.S.
Our Fraidy Reiss, who survived a forced marriage in Brooklyn, had pledged Tuesday to Chain-In outside Gov. Cuomo’s Manhattan office every Wednesday starting August 4 — in bridal gown and chains — until he signed the bill. Sen. Salazar and many of our allies had promised to join for the inaugural Chain-In on August 4.
But then Gov. Cuomo signed the bill today! Our new plan: We will gather August 4 as planned, but we will turn it into a celebration instead of a protest. REGISTER HERE. We have canceled the scheduled Chain-Ins on subsequent Wednesdays.
The current law in New York allows 17-year-olds to be entered into marriage by a judge, even though marriage creates a nightmarish legal trap for minors, given their limited legal rights. Further, marriage at 17 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education, economic opportunities and quality of life.
An estimated 4,890 children were subjected to this human rights abuse in New York between 2000 and 2018. Almost all were girls wed to adult men.
We have been pushing to end child marriage in New York since 2015. Along with our allies in the New York Coalition to End Child Marriage, we met with or called every state legislator multiple times. We submitted memos of support. We Chained-In in Manhattan and Albany to demand an end to child marriage. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case, DLA Piper and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. We wrote op-ed articles and appeared on television, radio and even in films. We partnered with Lush, whose generosity made all this work possible. You joined us too, if you tweeted at or emailed Gov. Cuomo or legislators to urge them to action, or if you shared our posts on social media or supported us financially.
Our allies in the New York Coalition to End Child marriage include: AHA Foundation, American Atheists, CHILD USA, Equality Now, Footsteps, Four Freedoms, Freedom United, Human Rights Watch, ICNY, J Strategies, LifeWay Network, Lynn’s Warriors, MALA, NASW-NYC, NJCW NY, National Consumers League, NYSCADV, NOW-NYC, Prevent Child Abuse NY, Reid McNally & Savage, Safe Horizon, Sanctuary for Families, Secular Coalition for NY, Students Against Child Marriage, UNICEF USA, Women 4 Women, Worker Justice Center of NY, ZA’AKAH and Zonta.
It’s a good day for girls in New York. Now let’s do the same for girls in another 44 states. #18NoExceptions
Are we just going to sit here, hoping Gov. Andrew Cuomo eventually will sign the bill the legislature passed more than a month ago to end child marriage?
Oh, hell no.
Our Fraidy Reiss has pledged to Chain-In outside Cuomo’s Manhattan office in a bridal gown and chains every Wednesday starting August 4 until the governor signs the bill and ends child marriage in New York.
Please join Reiss at this historic Perpetual Chain-In on August 4 and/or subsequent Wednesdays. We provide the bridal gowns, veils, chains and tape, at no cost to you. All you need to do is REGISTER HERE — and show up to make some noise!
We are THIS close to ending child marriage in New York: The legislature in June passed S3086, a bill sponsored by Sen. Julia Salazar and Asm. Phil Ramos, with near unanimous support (only two “no” votes).
But the bill still is awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature. We need to urge him to pick up his pen.
Our Fraidy Reiss, a forced marriage survivor, has pledged to Chain-In outside Cuomo’s Manhattan office in a bridal gown and chains every Wednesday starting August 4 until the governor signs S3086.
Please join Reiss at this historic Perpetual Chain-In on August 4 and/or subsequent Wednesdays. We provide the bridal gowns, veils, chains and tape, at no cost to you. All you need to do is register on this page — and show up to make some noise!
We provide the bridal gowns, veils, chains and tape, at no cost to you. All you need to do is register on this page — and join us to make some noise!
Speakers at the “inaugural” Perpetual Chain-In on August 4 include:
We also sing and chant at Chain-Ins to protest 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.
Perpetual Chain-In NYC
Wednesdays | 10:00 a.m.
633 3rd Avenue
(Outside Gov. Cuomo’s Manhattan office)
Child Marriage in the United States
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.
Join the movement. Be a part of our first-ever Perpetual Chain-In.
Did you see yesterday’s op-ed article, written by the bipartisan, bicameral legislators who have partnered with us to end child marriage in five U.S. states so far?
They sent a strong message to their colleagues in the other 45 states: Follow our lead and end this “archaic, sexist practice that destroys girls’ lives.”
Let’s make New York the sixth state to end this human rights abuse. The New York legislature already passed the bill, and we’re waiting for Gov. Cuomo to sign it.
Please take a minute right now to share and retweet this post at Gov. Cuomo. And here are other ways you can get involved to help end child marriage in the remaining 45 states.
Do you want to join the only organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy?
As we continue to grow, we are looking to hire an Advocacy & Administrative Associate who will help lead the growing national movement to eliminate marriage before 18 in every U.S. state. You might be a good fit if you:
NOTE: An internal study at HP found women applied for a promotion only if they met 100 percent of the qualifications, while men applied if they met 60 percent. Women, don’t be a statistic. If you want this job, go for it.
It’s a good day when journalist Nicholas Kristof calls your work “heroic.”
Did you see his column yesterday in the New York Times about child marriage in the United States and our “heroic work” to end it — which has led so far to five U.S. states banning this “repugnant” practice?
Kristof cited our new study that showed nearly 300,000 children married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, mostly girls wed to adult men, in many cases before the children were old enough to consent to sex.
“The marriage license became a get-out-of-jail-free card” for tens of thousands of child rapists, Kristof quoted our Fraidy Reiss as saying.
The column told the heartbreaking story of Patricia Abatemarco, who was married at 14 to the 27-year-old rapist who had gotten her pregnant. (You might remember Abatemarco from the webinar we hosted last week, moderated by Chelsea Clinton, which featured bipartisan legislators and advocates including Abatemarco.)
Here are ways you can join our “heroic work” and end child marriage in another 45 states.
Were you among the more than 320 people who tuned in yesterday for our virtual discussion of United States’ child marriage problem?
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois lauded us at Unchained for leading the movement to end child marriage in the U.S. and called on his colleagues, as well as state legislators in the 45 states that still allow child marriage, to join the movement. Chelsea Clinton, a longtime Unchained ally, noted the importance of our new study that showed nearly 300,000 children married recently in the U.S., and she reminded the audience that child marriage is not “something that happens to other kids in other places.”
New York Sen. Julia Salazar and South Carolina Sen. Katrina Shealy described some of the challenges they have faced as they work to end child marriage in their respective states. Child marriage survivor and activist Pat Abatemarco shared her painful story. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation advisor Dr. Yvette Efevbera explained why our work is crucial to the global effort to eliminate child marriage, and author and influencer Blair Imani urged everyone to do what she has done: partner with us to end the human rights abuse that is child marriage.
Watch the full discussion below.
This event was made possible by the generosity of the international law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
We have an all-star lineup for our virtual discussion of child marriage in the U.S. on Thursday. Our speakers include a special guest, as well as these activists and legislators:
Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, is a longtime ally in the fight to end child marriage in the U.S.
New York Senator Julia Salazar leads the push to end child marriage in New York. The legislature passed the bill she championed to ban marriage before 18; the bill is awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature.
South Carolina Senator Katrina Shealy leads the push to end child marriage in South Carolina. The bill she introduced to ban marriage before age 18 is pending in the legislature.
Dr. Yvette Efevbera is an advisor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who made Unchained’s study of child marriage possible.
Blair Imani is an author, educator and influencer whose work centers women and girls, global Black communities and the LGBTQ community.
Patricia Abatemarco is a child marriage survivor and mental health advocate who has partnered with Unchained to prevent what happened to her from happening to any other child.
Fraidy Reiss is a forced marriage survivor and Unchained’s founder/executive director.
United States’ Child Marriage Problem
Thursday, June 17, 2021
3 p.m. – 4 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. PT
Register here (required)
This event is made possible by the generosity of the international law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
We’re now five down, 45 to go in our national movement to end child marriage in every U.S. state. We just stood beside Gov. Daniel McKee and the bill’s sponsors — Rep. Julie Casimiro and Sen. John Burke — as the governor signed H5387/S398 and made Rhode Island the fifth U.S. state to ban all marriage before 18, without exceptions. !!
We have been advocating relentlessly for months for this historic victory. Along with our allies at AHA Foundation, American Atheists, CHILD USA, Global Hope 365, Human Rights Watch, J Strategies, National Coalition to End Child Marriage, Students Against Child Marriage, UNICEF USA and Zonta International, and numerous child marriage survivors, we met with or called every state legislator. We testified at legislative hearings and submitted memos of support. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case, DLA Piper and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. We partnered with Lush, whose generosity made all this work possible. You joined us too, if you shared our posts on social media or supported us financially.
The previous law in Rhode Island created a nightmarish legal trap: Minors of any age could be entered into marriage by a parent and/or a judge, without any input from the minor — before the minor was old enough to leave home, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or even file for divorce. Minors could be married off before they were old enough to consent to sex.
Child marriage therefore was often forced marriage and, in some cases, covered up rape. Further, marriage before 18 produces such devastating, lifelong repercussions for girls that the U.S. State Department has called it a human rights abuse.
An estimated 171 children in Rhode Island were subjected to this human rights abuse between 2000 and 2018 — and some 88% were girls wed to adult men. But that will never happen again.
To date, our advocacy has helped to end child marriage — without exceptions — in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Rhode Island. The New York legislature last week passed a bill to end child marriage, and it is waiting for the governor’s signature. Let’s move on to the next state together. #18NoExceptions
So we’re trying to stay calm here, but the New York assembly just voted UNANIMOUSLY to end child marriage (A3891, sponsored by Asm. Phil Ramos).
And the senate already passed the bill (S3086, sponsored by Sen. Julia Salazar).
Which means the bill now heads to the governor’s desk, and NEW YORK MIGHT SOON BECOME THE SIXTH U.S. STATE TO END CHILD MARRIAGE!
Please take a moment to email Gov. Cuomo, call him (518-474-8390) and tweet at him (@NYGovCuomo) to urge him to sign S3086.
