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Aug 12, 2023
We protested child marriage at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Below is a summary of the event and included are pictures taken at the event. It was a fantastic day protesting and showing the world that we will not rest until the child marriage age is raised to 18 here in CA too! We must join the other nine states who have raised the marriage age to 18 with no exceptions. The UK raised the marriage age to 18 in February, 2023! If they can do it, so can we! Come on California, come on the rest of the USA! Only nine states have banned child marriage? We have to do so much better!

We protested child marriage at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Below is a summary of the event and included are pictures taken at the event. It was a fantastic day protesting and showing the world that we will not rest until the child marriage age is raised to 18 here in CA too! We must join the other nine states who have raised the marriage age to 18 with no exceptions. The UK raised the marriage age to 18 in February, 2023! If they can do it, so can we. Come on California, come on the rest of the USA! Only nine states have banned child marriage? We have to do so much better!

Recap:

SACRAMENTO, CA – Dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with arms chained and mouths taped. That is how advocates gathered on June 22 on the West Steps of the California State Capitol to protest forced and child marriage and call on legislators to introduce and pass a simple, commonsense bill to end child marriage in California. Child marriage, or marriage before age 18, creates a nightmarish legal trap. Even the most mature minor faces overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to resist or escape a forced marriage. Further, marriage before 18 is recognized as a human rights abuse that destroys almost every aspect of an American girl’s life. And it is an urgent problem in California. Dangerous legal loopholes allow parents to enter a child of any age into marriage with judicial approval --without any real legal recourse for a child who does not want to marry.

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Speakers at the Chain-In included:

• Asm. Cottie Petrie-Norris, legislative champion

• Pat Abatemarco, child marriage survivor

• Mandy Havlik, child marriage survivor

• Davinder Kaur, forced marriage survivor

• Marilyn Smith, child marriage survivor

• Sara Tasneem, child marriage advocate and survivor

• Chavie Weisberger, forced marriage survivor

• Fatemah, child marriage survivor

• Dr. Tamara MC, survivor advocate• Ela Pandya, Zonta International

• Michele Hanash, AHA Foundation

• Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last

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TIME/DATE: 9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Thursday, June 22, 2023

LOCATION: West Steps of the California State Capitol: 1315 10th St., Sacramento, CA

The Chain-In was hosted by Unchained At Last. ABOUT UNCHAINED AT LAST: Unchained At Last is a survivor-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the UnitedStates through direct services and advocacy. Unchained provides crucial legal and social services, always for free, to help women, girls and others in the U.S. to escape arranged/forced marriages and rebuild their lives. At the same time,Unchained pushes for social, policy and legal change; the organization started and now leads a growing national movement to eliminate child marriage in every U.S. state and at the federal level, including by organizing Chain-Ins. For more information, visit unchainedatlast.org.

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Here are some pictures (you will see Davinder starting with the first picture where she is wearing her wedding gown on the morning of June 23, and getting ready to leave her hotel and head to the State Capitol).

Here's Davinder leaving her hotel in Sacramento, ready to protest child marriage
Here's Davinder leaving her hotel ready in the wedding gown to protest child marriage
Child marriage protesters at the State Capitol
Child marriage protesters at the State Capitol in Sacramento

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Child marriage protesters heading to the State Capitol
Davinder with fellow child marriage survivors and allies
Davinder with fellow child marriage survivors and allies
Chain-In at the State Capitol, Sacramento
Chain-In at State Capitol, Sacramento
Davinder Kaur speaking up about her forced marriage
Davinder Kaur speaking up about her forced marriage
Child Marriage Chain-In at State Capitol, Sacramento

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Child Marriage Chain-In at State Capitol, Sacramento - Fraidy Reiss at the speaker's podium
Davinder Kaur at the speaker's podium at the Chain-In at the State Capitol, Sacramento

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Davinder Kaur at the Speaker's Podium at the Chain-In at State Capitol, Sacramento
Davinder Kaur at the Speaker's Podium at the Chain-In at State Capitol, Sacramento
Sacramento Chain-In to protest child marriage

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Chain-In protest at Sacramento
Sacramento Chain-In to protest child marriage

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Here are the media articles on the Chain-In:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article276621971.html

https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2023/06/25/no-more-child-brides-campaign-begins-to-ban-underage-marriages-in-california/

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/06/23/child-brides-a-campaign-starts-to-ban-underage-marriages-in-california/

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Here is a video prepared by the Zonta Club of West Los Angeles which features child marriage survivor Sara Tasneem. Davinder's speech is shown briefly here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEHWnTP0cu0

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