Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we descended on the Minnesota state capitol building on Thursday, chanting, singing and marching through the building to protest forced and child marriage and tell legislators this Valentine’s Day that there is nothing romantic about child marriage.
As usual, our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including ABC, CBS, TwinCities.com, DL-Online, WCCO Radio and The Bemidji Pioneer.
Speakers included:
- Rep. Kaohly Her, Primary sponsor, HF745
- Sen. Sandy Pappas, Primary sponsor, SF1393
- Dr. Ellen Kennedy, World Without Genocide
- Claire Willet, Eden Prairie High School
- Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
- Nesha Abiraj, Former Human Rights Watch fellow
- Tania Hughes-Kremers, Zonta International District 7
- Dawn Tyree, Child marriage survivor
- Emily Steinert, Unchained At Last
Our message to legislators was clear: It’s time to pass SF1393 and make Minnesota the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to end child marriage.
We at Unchained At Last lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by eliminating the legal loopholes in all 50 states and at the federal level that allow, and even encourage, child marriage. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, do not specify any minimum age for marriage.
Read more here about Chain-Ins, the powerful form of peaceful protest that we invented to raise awareness of forced and child marriage in the United States.