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.
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS TOPIC!
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.
Yr Wonkette will never use your donations for a wedding gift for a 12-year-old,
Hello, my loving and caring ducklings! It is I, your friendly, neighbourhood Crip Dyke, who has no official power here whatsoever.
I do, however, have some unofficial power by virtue of the permissions needed to allow me to post my stories, so I'm gonna use that here to warn you all but do not take it as a threat, b/c I am not the one to be scared of around here. (That is most likely Donna Rose. She holds all the power.)
ANYWAY Someone in NYC ??possibly a Trump supporter?? has killed himself in an awful and attention-getting way.
The warning I'm gonna make on this topic is two-fold:
ONE: if you're posting a link to this event, specify that. Don't just post the link without context or info so that people can choose whether they want to click.
TWO: Don't you go joking about this, please. I mean, really. Have some love for your fellow Wonketteers. There are many reasons someone here wouldn't want to hear a joke about suicide and we all should be better than that.
I would just like to give a shout out to the original poster downthread: they recognized that something was not okay, and they pulled it down. They've given apologies.
Let's recognize people for acknowledging their mistakes - that's something that might happen on Wonkette but is not typical for most sites.