Unchained At Last proudly partnered with Tahirih Justice Center and other allies to bring you
HONORING OUR HEARTBEATS: A Tour to End Forced Marriage in the U.S.
Unchained and other organizations invited New Jerseyans to help end forced marriage in the US by joining six-city Heartbeats Tour when it reached New Jersey on December 3 and 4. Dozens of people attended attending the three tour events:
Performance and Community Forum
A presentation of the short film “Caged” and the original play “When We Leave,” written by the authors of the comic book, “Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project.”
Issue Briefing
Geared toward policy makers, foundation officers, members of the legal community and other allies who want to learn more about forced marriage in the US and efforts to build a coordinated, national response to this human rights abuse. Lunch and parking provided.
Did you catch WBGO’s piece about Unchained At Last on Friday evening? Journalist Jon Kalish examined the legislation Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors and described the event Unchained hosted last month to celebrate the law’s passage.
Kalish also spoke about Honoring Our Heartbeats, the six-city tour to end forced marriage in the US, which Unchained is helping to bring to New Jersey in December.
If you missed the piece, or you want to hear it again, click here.
Women trapped in arranged/forced marriages in New Jersey now have 11 more allies.
Unchained gave its first training course today to lawyers in New Jersey who are committed to representing Unchained clients pro bono – but do not yet have matrimonial-law experience. Eleven lawyers attended the course, titled “Un-Arrange a Marriage: An Introduction to Family Law, With a Focus on Forced Marriage.”
The 11 attorneys now will be matched with mentors – experienced matrimonial law attorneys – who will guide the them through the complex process of representing a woman who is fleeing an arranged/forced marriage.
The training course was presented by four experienced family law attorneys – Emily Carstensen of Rubenstein Meyerson Fox Conte (and Unchained’s board vice president); Deb Guston of Guston and Guston (and a member of Unchained’s board of advisers); Rebecca Levin of Jerner & Palmer; and Komal Ullah of Weinberger Law Group – and by Unchained’s executive director, Fraidy Reiss.
The free training course, worth eight Continuing Legal Education credits, was made possible by a generous grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New Jersey. Unchained will present the course again in the spring.
Unchained’s law to protect domestic violence survivors and all crime victims in New Jersey goes into effect today.
Today nearly 80 people joined Unchained to Celebrate a Legislative Victory.
Honoree: LORETTA WEINBERG • New Jersey Senate Majority Leader
Sponsor of the bill Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors, which has been signed into law
Featured speaker: AMY RICHARDS • Feminist, activist, author
Founder of Third Wave Foundation and Soapbox Author of Manifesta, Grassroots and Opting In
The celebration included hors d’oeuvres, wine, live music and a silent auction.
Domestic violence survivors in New Jersey who ask a judge for a final restraining order typically need to prove they have been subjected to a pattern of abuse that is likely to recur. The best way for them to prove that pattern is to show copies of the prior temporary restraining orders they have obtained against their abusers and the accompanying police reports.
However, crime victims previously were required to pay for their own crime records. That was an unfair and unnecessary burden to put on a crime victim.
Also, a victim’s request for crime records itself previously became a public record that nearly anyone, including the abuser, could access. That obviously could have put a victim in additional danger.
Unchained therefore wrote the new law, which says that:
– A crime victim no longer needs to pay for her/his own crime records, and
– A crime victim’s request for her/his own records no longer is public.
Independent Sources, a CUNY TV show, featured Unchained At Last tonight. The segment focused on the law Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors, which recently was passed in New Jersey — and which Unchained now is working to pass in New York.
What do gold-and-sapphire bees and tickets to the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Pippin have in common?
They are both among more than 25 items you can win in Unchained’s silent auction, which will culminate on October 19, at Unchained At Last’s Celebrate a Legislative Victory event.
But whether or not you plan to attend the event, you can NOW place bids online for the auction — and win a cut-and-color at Frederic Fekkai’s salon in SoHo or anautographed copy of Adam Driver on the cover of GQ Magazine, while you help women and girls flee or resist arranged/forced marriages.
Don’t let someone else win the Date Night in Montclair, NJ. Click HERE to visit the auction site now.
Two nights at an award-winning bed and breakfast on Martha’s Vineyard. Tickets to the New York Philharmonic. Estee Lauder cosmetics and perfume, and Ann Taylor jewelry and accessories. An Xbox One. A limited-edition photograph by an award-winning photographer, created exclusively for Unchained.
You can win all these and much more — and help women in forced marriages – if you join the Celebrate a Legislative Victory auction.
You are invited to Celebrate a Legislative Victory on Sunday, October 19, from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm, in Montclair, New Jersey.
Honoring Loretta Weinberg, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader and sponsor of the law Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors. The law was passed in New Jersey in July.
Featuring Amy Richards, feminist, activist, author, founder of Third Wave Foundation and Soapbox and author of Manifesta, Grassroots and Opting In.
Hors d’oeuvres. Wine. Live music. Silent auction.
Tickets: $75
Sponsorships: $300, $500 or $1,000
For each ticket purchased, $60 is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Domestic violence survivors in New Jersey who ask a judge for a final restraining order typically need to prove they have been subjected to a pattern of abuse that is likely to recur. The best way for them to prove that pattern is to show copies of the prior temporary restraining orders they have obtained against their abusers and the accompanying police reports.
However, crime victims previously were required to pay for their own crime records. That was an unfair and unnecessary burden to put on a crime victim.
Also, a victim’s request for crime records itself previously became a public record that nearly anyone, including the abuser, could access. That obviously could have put a victim in additional danger.
Unchained therefore wrote the new law, which says that:
Details about the law are here.
Unchained is the only nonprofit in the US dedicated to helping women leave and avoid arranged/forced marriages and rebuild their lives.
Many communities in the US practice arranged/forced marriage, and often the women and girls who try to resist or leave those marriages are stymied by religious laws, social customs and financial constraints. Often, too, their families and communities shun them.
In two years, with an almost all-volunteer staff (except a paid part-time social worker), Unchained has helped or is helping more than 85 women and girls to resist or leave arranged/forced marriages. Nearly all of those women and girls are domestic violence survivors — which is why Unchained wrote the new law.
Ma’yan, which provides feminist, social justice and leadership training to teen girls, today published an interview with Unchained’s founder. Read the interview here.
The Wall Street Journal today ran an important story about formerly Orthodox Jewish fighting for parental rights. The story included a quote from Unchained’s executive director about the struggles such parents face.
Click here for the story, titled “Formerly Orthodox, and Struggling for Parental Rights.”
Congratulations! Today New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed into law the first bill Unchained wrote.
The law is written broadly enough to help all crime victims, but it is intended in particular to help domestic violence survivors obtain a final restraining order against their abuser — because many Unchained clients are domestic violence survivors. Details about the bill are here.
If you were one of the more than 1,000 people who helped get the law passed — by signing the online petition, contacting legislators or the governor, testifying about the legislation or offering input or encouragement — you have Unchained’s permission to pat yourself on the back and grin. Thank you.
