Unchained At Last

We're hiring a Clinical Social Worker to support women, girls and others as they avoid, escape from and rebuild their lives after forced marriage. Learn more and apply: buff.ly/Qv4tUKe

What are you waiting for? Apply now: buff.ly/Rpy49xe

Escaping the horror of forced marriage requires courage, determination -- & a badass lawyer. You can be that badass lawyer. We're hiring a fierce Senior Attorney to provide crucial legal representation to our brave clients as they break their chains & rebuild their lives.

And wherever you live, please donate now to help our tiny team achieve its huge mission: buff.ly/ApQjMiI 5/5 #EndChildMarriage #EndChildMarriageUSA #EndChildMarriageCA #18NoExceptions

We finally have a chance to end a human rights abuse that destroys girls' lives, in the most populous state in the U.S. We need your help to keep up the momentum. If you live in CA, email your state legislators here to urge quick and decisive action: buff.ly/ByNcPnT 4/5

We are finally making progress in our epic battle to ban child marriage in California! 1/5

🚨STILL LEGAL IN 33 STATES, ALLOWING THE RAPE AND ABUSE OF MINORS🚨Today is the 2-year anniversary of the enactment date of #Virginia’s law to end child marriage, a bill I wrote and organized a coalition around with amazing female-led nonprofit and volunteer organizations. It was carried by Delegate @keys_gamarra (thank you, again, for trusting me and patroning it by request) and was motivated in large part by the stories of women like @AbeilleCombs who continues to amaze me putting her pain to purpose by working to make other states join us in the ban. Hard to believe that the USA permits child marriage in MOST states. At the time of the passage of this bill, Virginia had become only the 12th state and **first state in the South** to end #childmarriage. Today, only 17 states have banned child marriage to age 18 without exceptions or legal loopholes, and those include: 🔴 Connecticut (2023) ⚪️ Delaware (the first to ban it in 2018) 🔵 Maine (2025) 🔴 Massachusetts (2022) ⚪️ Michigan (2023) 🔵 Minnesota (2020) 🔴 Missouri (2025) ⚪️ New Hampshire (2024) 🔵 New Jersey (2018) 🔴 New York (2021) ⚪️ Oklahoma (2026) [🎩 hat tip, Brigitte] 🔵 Oregon (2025) 🔴 Pennsylvania (2020) ⚪️ Rhode Island (2021) 🔵 Vermont (2023) 🔴 Virginia* (2024) ⚪️ Washington (2024) ⭐️ Washington, D.C. (2025), American Samoa (2018), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (2020) have also banned child marriage. *Rep. John McGuire of CD-05 was the only one to vote against it in the Virginia Senate. Last month, I was in Richmond to attend Governor @SpanbergerForVA bill signings in support of the disability community with @TheArcofNoVa and @SharonLCummings (Conner) [more on this in the next post] which gave me an opportunity to reunite with dear friend, Brigitte, #endchildmarriage Advocate Extraordinaire, where we grabbed a bite on the canal (6/16/2026). Thank you for sharing your story with us, B 🐝, for your bravery and always moving me. Blessed to know you and have worked with you! As I wrote in @MsMagazine article, we could not have achieved the success without sisterhood and support from @ZontaUSA @UnchainedAtLast @tahirihjustice @equalitynow @weareuv_ @AHAFoundation

Thank You @UnchainedAtLast - #EndChildMarriage - we did it! 🎉 #California #USA #Herstory

After 9yrs of trying to ban child marriage in California, we're finally seeing progress: The bill to ban child marriage has a hearing today! If you live in CA, please email your legislators and urge them to support this bill: buff.ly/mCnIfOR #EndChildMarriageCA

#EndForcedMarriageUSA #EndChildMarriageUSA #18NoExceptions

We're closed this week to give the #UnchainedTeam some well-deserved R&R, but we'll be back next week refreshed and ready to take on forced and child marriage across the U.S.! In the meantime, you can help us by taking action at buff.ly/i8xfOQI

❤️ One extraordinary person could save Nick’s life. If you can’t donate, please share this post. A single share could help us find the person who can. Thank you for reading and sharing. ❤️ Please share this post. 7/7

If you are interested in exploring the information re: becoming a living liver donor for Nick, please begin the preliminary application here to see if you are eligible: buff.ly/plfCARp. 6/7

Sharing an important message from a longtime Unchained supporter/ally, Liz: 💖 Save Nick’s Life 💖 Liz's partner, Nick, needs a living liver lobe donor. 🧵 1/7