We spent a gorgeous, cool September evening at the drive-in to watch the award-winning documentary film Knots: A Forced Marriage Story and raise money to help end the human rights abuses examined in the film: forced and child marriage in the U.S. And we did it all from the pandemic-proof safety of our cars.
Thanks to the generous support of our donors and sponsors — DLA Piper, Columbia Bank and the Unchained At Last Board of Directors — we raised nearly $9,000 to continue helping women, girls and others flee marriages they did not choose.
Jen Kiaba doesn’t need to say a word to describe the trauma of her forced marriage to a stranger and her courageous escape from it. She explains it perfectly, in gut-wrenching detail, through photography.
Now, as part of an ongoing, yearlong collaboration with Jen, we at Unchained are sharing on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram the powerful photos from her Burdens of White Dress portfolio to illustrate the horror of forced marriage in the U.S.
Jen grew up in the infamous Unification Church cult, where she was forced at age 20 to marry a man the cult leader chose for her at random during a mass “matching ceremony.” When she finally managed to escape from the marriage and the cult, she said, it was with a “proverbial scarlet A branded into my chest.”
Jen went on to earn a degree in art history from Bard College. Today she is an artist and educator whose work has won a third-place Julia Margaret Cameron Award and an Honorable Mention in the 13th Pollux Award and was a top-200 finalist in Critical Mass.
She has no regrets about her imaginary scarlet A. “It is my battle scar from a fight I am proud to have survived,” Jen said, “because I fought my way into this new world.”
When we first wrote The Girls You Have Destroyed, a chilling poem/song about child marriage in the U.S., we intended to perform it flash-mob style at statehouses across the nation.
Coronavirus changed those plans. Instead we present The Girls You Have Destroyed in #LockDownRiseUp style, via this video featuring child marriage survivors across the U.S. — each who filmed herself.
Please share this video with your legislators, by email or on social media. We the people demand they take action. #18NoExceptions
Yesterday Gov. Tim Walz signed HF745/SF1393 to end child marriage in Minnesota.
Yes, you recall correctly that five days ago Pennsylvania also ended child marriage — an extraordinary succession of human rights victories during a global pandemic. We are now four down, 46 to go in our campaign to end marriage before 18, without exceptions, in every U.S. state.
Together we helped to achieve the victory in Minnesota, led by Rep. Kaohly Her and Sen. Sandy Pappas and in partnership with the Minnesota Coalition to End Child Marriage that we formed, which includes AHA Foundation, American Atheists, Child USA, Child USAdvocacy, Global Citizen, ERA Minnesota, Kelly Nicole Foundation, Minnesota Nurses Association, UNICEF USA, World Without Genocide, Zonta District 7, Zonta International Club of Minneapolis and members of the National Coalition to End Child Marriage.
Armed with in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and with generous funding from partners including Lush Charity Pot and Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Palm Beaches, we met with, emailed and called every Minnesota legislator and the governor repeatedly to urge them to pass HF745/SF1393. We also Chained-In in St. Paul earlier this year, dressed in bridal gowns and chains (when the outside temperature was about -35), to protest child marriage.
Under previous Minnesota law (which will change effective August 1), children age 16 and 17 could marry with parental “consent,” which is often parental coercion, and judicial approval. As of 2014, an estimated 1,142 children age 15 to 17 living in Minnesota had already been married.
Children can easily be forced to marry or to stay in a marriage before they turn 18, because they have limited legal rights. Further, marriage before 18 produces such devastating, lifelong repercussions for girls that the U.S. State Department has called it a “human rights abuse.”
Our advocacy has helped to end this human rights abuse in Delaware, New Jersey, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania — and now Minnesota. American Samoa, too, has ended child marriage. Which state or territory is next?
We’re now three down, 47 to go in our national movement to end child marriage in every U.S. state.
Gov. Tom Wolf just signed HB360 to end all marriage before age 18 in Pennsylvania, no exceptions. Pennsylvania is now the third U.S. state, after Delaware and New Jersey, to end child marriage — and the first state legislature to do so unanimously. It is also the first state legislature to end child marriage remotely, during a global pandemic.
For the last 3.5 years we and the bill’s bipartisan sponsors — Reps. Jesse Topper and Perry Warren and Sens. John Sabatina, Judy Schwank and Wayne Langerholc — advocated relentlessly for this historic victory for children.
You joined us too, if you Chained-In with us in Philadelphia two years ago or in Harrisburg last June, or donated a bridal gown for us to wear with our chains; helped us to meet with, email and call every Pennsylvania legislator and the governor repeatedly; joined us in the capitol on our countless wrangle days and at legislative sessions; followed/liked/retweeted us on social media or supported us financially.
We formed the Pennsylvania Coalition to End Child Marriage with our allies, including AHA Foundation, Child USA, Child USAdvocacy, Global Citizen, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, PA NOW, UNICEF USA, Villanova Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Women’s Way and members of the National Coalition to End Child Marriage. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. We partnered with Lush Charity Pot and Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Palm Beaches, whose generosity made this victory possible.
Under the current law, a child as young as zero can be entered into marriage in Pennsylvania by a parent (age 16-17) or a judge (age 15 or younger) with little or no say from the child. As of 2014, an estimated 2,323 children age 15 to 17 living in Pennsylvania had already been married. The new law will go into effect in 60 days.
Children in Pennsylvania who are not yet 18 can easily be forced to marry or become trapped in an abusive or unhappy marriage, since they cannot easily leave home without being taken into police custody, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or even file for divorce.
Further, marriage before 18 destroys girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. The U.S. State Department has called marriage before 18 a “human rights abuse.”
To date, our advocacy has helped to end this human rights abuse in Delaware, New Jersey, the U.S. Virgin Islands — and now Pennsylvania. American Samoa, too, has ended child marriage. Let’s move on to the next state together. #LockDownRiseUp #18NoExceptions
What pandemic?
The Minnesota senate just UNANIMOUSLY approved SF1393/HF745, sponsored by Sen. Sandy Pappas and Rep. Kaohly Her, to end all marriage before 18. The house previously approved the bill, also unanimously, and now needs only to update the enactment date. Then the bill heads Gov. Tim Walz’s desk — and he has promised to sign it.
You will recall that the bill to end child marriage in Pennsylvania passed unanimously out of both legislative houses last week and is now awaiting the governor’s signature there. All during a global pandemic.
Under current Minnesota law, children age 16 and 17 can marry with parental “consent” (which is often parental coercion) and judicial approval (which can easily be rubber-stamped). As of 2014, an estimated 1,142 children age 15 to 17 living in Minnesota had already been married. However, children can easily be forced to marry or forced to stay in a marriage before their 18th birthday, because they have limited legal rights. Also, child marriage is a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
That’s why we lead a national movement to end child marriage in every U.S. state, territory and district — and no pandemic can stop us.
Take that, coronavirus.
Both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature just voted unanimously (and remotely) to end child marriage — a huge victory for girls and boys and a giant “you can’t stop us” to covid-19. The bill they approved, HB360, now heads to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk — and he has promised he will sign it.
Under the current law, the effective marriage age in Pennsylvania is zero. As of 2014, an estimated 2,323 children age 15 to 17 living in Pennsylvania had already been married.
That might end soon, thanks to the leadership of the bill’s bipartisan sponsors: Reps. Jesse Topper and Perry Warren and Sens. John Sabatina, Judy Schwank and Wayne Langerholc. Pennsylvania might soon become the third U.S. state, after Delaware and New Jersey, where our advocacy helped to eliminate all marriage before age 18. The Pennsylvania legislature would be the first to end child marriage unanimously.
Just when you thought nothing good would ever happen again: This afternoon the Pennsylvania senate judiciary committee unanimously released HB360, the bill we’ve been promoting nonstop to end child marriage. The bill now heads to the full senate.
Yes, most legislative action is at a standstill due to the global pandemic. But PA legislators, led by Rep. Jesse Topper and the bill’s other sponsors, recognize the urgency of the need to end a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives. They added an amendment to allow marriage via affidavit during a disaster declaration, which made HB360 a “covid-19 bill” and fast-tracked it.
HB360 and its senate companion, SB81, each has passed out of its respective house unanimously. Under Pennsylvania rules, one bill must pass again in the opposite house before it can go to the governor for his signature, which is why the senate still needs to vote on HB360. Also, because the bill now has been amended, it will need to pass out of the house again before it proceeds to the governor’s desk.
If you live in Pennsylvania, urge your legislators to act now and make Pennsylvania the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to eliminate all marriage before age 18.
We feel just as scared and confused as you do while coronavirus rages around the world, but we remain dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy. We are still here, but we are working remotely.
You can still reach us to get help if you or someone you know is escaping a forced marriage.
You can still contact any member of our team, preferably via email. Email us here for general inquiries.
You can still support us. We need your generosity now more than ever.
New Hampshire is making strides toward ending child marriage: The House of Representatives just voted “yes” on HB1516, the bill to end all marriage before 18, sponsored by Rep. Cassie Levesque.
The New Hampshire legislature has failed in all its previous attempts to end child marriage. Then-NH Rep. David Bates actually said out loud in 2017: “We’re asking the legislature to repeal a law that’s been on the books for over a century, that’s been working without difficulty, on the basis of a request from a minor doing a Girl Scout project.” (That Girl Scout was Levesque, who was not yet a legislator.)
But finally, progress. This is the first time a bill to eliminate child marriage in New Hampshire has gotten this far. Next, the bill heads to the senate.
Click here to track our progress as we push to end child marriage in every U.S. state and territory.
