Raise your hand if you:
And then submit your application to serve as our Director of Client Services and guide women, girls, LGBTQ individuals and others as they escape forced marriages.
Child marriage is a serious problem in Massachusetts. Minors of any age can be entered into marriage without any input from them — even though they cannot file for divorce or even enter a domestic violence shelter until the day they turn 18. Nearly 1,250 children were entered into marriage in Massachusetts just between 2000 and 2018. Some 60 of them were under age 16, so they were not even old enough to consent to sex.
This calls for a protest.
We will Chain-In in Boston on September 22. We will wear bridal gowns and chains to urge legislators to pass H1709/S937 — as we have been pushing them to do since 2017! — and finally eliminate the dangerous legal loopholes that allow marriage before age 18.
All Chain-Ins are special, but this Chain-In is extra special: It will be filmed for an upcoming documentary series on a major platform.
The great news for us: We have grown enough that we need a Director of Development to spearhead our fundraising efforts.
The great news for you: You might be a good fit for this opportunity if you have at least five years’ development experience and you care as much as we do about ending forced and child marriage in the U.S.
Our research on the extent of child marriage in the United States will be published in the Journal of Adolescent Health this fall, in both print and online editions. We’ll celebrate the publication with a launch event in October in conjunction with the Gates Foundation and others. More information to come — stay tuned!
Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, more than 20 of us and our allies gathered in Manhattan today to celebrate that New York just ended child marriage — but also to protest that 44 U.S. states still allow this human rights abuse.
Speakers included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including the Independent and others.
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.
Our Fraidy Reiss, a forced marriage survivor, had pledged July 20 to Chain-In outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office in a bridal gown and chains every Wednesday starting August 4 until the governor signed the bill the legislature passed in June to end child marriage.
And then, on July 22, Gov. Cuomo signed the bill. !!
So the inaugural Chain-In on August 4 will become a Chain-In Celebration, and subsequent Chain-Ins are canceled.
Please join us August 4 to celebrate this historic legislative victory. We still will wear bridal gowns and chains, which we provide. All you need to do is register on this page — and show up to celebrate New York’s new law and to protest forced and child marriage in the 44 U.S. states that still allow it.
Speakers at the Chain-In Celebration will include:
We also will sing and chant against 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.
Chain-In Celebration NYC
August 4 | 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 Chain-In Celebration.
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.
