End Gender-Violence Zonta Says NO!
The MA hearing on H1709 & S937 (Bills to end child marriage) and a few other bills, was held Nov 16, 2021
Governor Theresa Harris attended from 10 AM – 12:45PM, leaving the meeting just after testifying on a Zonta panel representing District 2, with Michele from District 1’s Malden Club.
Her report:
Members of the MA Coalition had a coordinated approach with each person giving a compelling reason to approve the legislation, and then 3 survivors of child marriage
(4 if you count Fraidy) told their story. It was hard to keep a dry eye!
D1 did a terrific job covering Zonta’s mission and global initiatives to end child marriage and D2’s chief point was: we are proud to be in NY State, the 6th State of the Union to end child marriage, but as your neighbor, we are concerned that children will be trafficked over our shared border to MA where there is no residency requirement. Please close the loophole! I’ve attached a photo but it is without me & Michele -sorry!All in all, it was perfectly orchestrated testimony. I hope that the bill will come bolting out of committee this time around and be signed into law.
Interestingly, no one spoke in opposition to this bi-partisan issue.
Michelle Luong is the President of the Zonta Club of Malden (MA) District 1