On June 8, 2023, Tahirih Justice Center held our annual signature event, Journey to Justice 2023: An Evening with the Tahirih Justice Center. This year’s event celebrated and acknowledged the many years of service and impact that Tahirih’s staff, supporters, and partners, have had on immigrant survivors of gender-based violence seeking safety in the United States.

I came to the U.S. in the winter of 2006. Life back home in Mexico was tough for me and my family. I dreamt of going to college and graduating but with my family’s economic status, that dream was too costly and impossible. 
At least I was able to graduate high school and that is something I am proud of since I was also working at the time to help my family. I was always looking for an opportunity to have a better life as a young woman.  

Today, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz signed a bill that ends child marriage in Connecticut by raising the legal age for marriage to 18 without exceptions. This makes Connecticut the 9th state to completely end child marriage and the second state to end child marriage this year, after Vermont.

Connecticut saw over 1,200 children marry between 2000 and 2014, and prior to 2017 had no minimum marriage age. They are now the second state to succeed in an incremental approach to ending child marriage: a 2017 reform setting an age floor of 16 and ensuring universal judicial review cut rates of child marriage in the state by about half, mitigating harm while advocates and legislators continued building support for an end to child marriage this year.

A Statement from Tahirih’s Queer & Trans Caucus: Pride Month is celebrated during June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, when queer folk in New York City pushed […]

Happy Pride! This month’s celebration of the courage and resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community is incredibly important to the Tahirih Justice Center and its mission.

D.C. has not yet joined the 31 states that have passed laws taking aim at child marriage and our laws still allow 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with nothing more than one parent’s signature. It’s time for our city to update our antiquated marriage laws and put the wellbeing of our children first.

Tahirih applauds the Maine legislators who have shown their commitment to addressing child marriage in the state for multiple years, and we look forward to supporting continued efforts to end child marriage in Maine.