Nice Time! Virginia Becomes 12th State To Ban Child Marriage, Sorry, Creepy Old Men

Because Israel and Iran keep launching missiles at each other, the Republican presidential nominee is sitting in a courtroom being tried for multiple white-collar felonies, conservatives are trying to legislate transgender people out of existence, and quite a few other monstrosities, we could really use some Nice Time to take our minds off our fucked-up and dystopic world.

So here’s one: Our native state of Virginia has answered our prayer by fully banning child marriage, thus at least temporarily taking possession of the title of Not the Worst Virginia, which it first lost when West Virginia beat it to abolishing slavery in the 1860s.

The first Southern state to do it, too! Virginia, you are truly a trailblazer.

We say “fully banning” because the state had already banned most underage marriages in 2016. However, there was still a carveout in place for 16- and 17-year-olds who had been emancipated from their parents and whom a judge found “mature enough” to decide to get married. Awfully subjective, but it was what it was.

The new bill passed with some bipartisan support because there are still child-lovin’ weirdos in the state Assembly, and was signed into law by Glenn “Nation’s Lankiest Governor” Youngkin last week.

The law makes Virginia the 12th state to fully ban the practice of child marriage. It brings Virginia in line with “international norms established by groups like the United Nations,” which is on a worldwide quest to end child marriage by 2030, much to the chagrin of Matt Gaetz, probably. It had been supported by the National Organization of Women, among others.

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Because being 16 or 17 does not protect someone from being trafficked and exploited, as one survivor of child marriage told legislators:

Aliya Abbas, a self-described child marriage survivor, said she was forced into a marriage with a stranger when she was 17, and alleged she was raped repeatedly and threatened with death when she sought a divorce.

“This emancipation loophole does not save children who are going to be coerced into this human rights abuse,” Abbas said.

Another survivor of child marriage, a woman who at 15 was forced by her parents to marry a 37-year-old, said this:

“It didn’t matter if I was 15 or 17. Because my parents would have done, or had me do, whatever was necessary to get me married,” she told legislators. “With all due respect, does anyone here actually think a vulnerable young person in fear of their parents or even God himself is going to protest?”

That survivor, Brigitte Combs, managed to escape her marriage at 18 but had to leave two children behind for a while. Eventually she was able to get a divorce, earn a GED, and become a paramedic and later a business owner. But certainly not every child bride is so lucky, as anyone who is familiar with the story of Warren Jeffs knows.

So congrats, Virginia. Only 38 more states to go.

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[VPM / NPR]

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