加利福尼亚州正式禁止童婚。州长加文·纽森通过立法来终结这一至今仍在美国32个州被允许的陋习。
California has officially banned child marriage, with Governor Gavin Newsomg legislation to end the practice that is still legal in 32 US states.
新法律将于1月1日正式生效，规定在该州结婚的人必须年满18岁。
The new law, which will come into effect on 1 January, states people must be 18 to get married in the Golden State.
纽森称这是“保护加州青少年和未成年人的姗姗来迟的举措”。他与考特妮·斯托登共同签署了这项法案；考特妮的父母在她年仅16岁时就允许她与一位50岁的好莱坞演员结婚。
Newsom called it a "long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors". He signed the bill into law with Courtney Stodden whose parents allowed her to marry a 50-year-old Hollywood actor when she was just 16.
斯托登一直致力于推动禁止童婚的立法，她将这一变化称为“一场胜利”，并表示那些曾遭受童婚伤害的人“本就不应承受这样的负担”。
Stodden, who has been advocating to end the practice, called the change a "victory" and said survivors of child marriage should "never have been expected to carry this burden".
她表示：“我会继续奋斗，直到所有州的儿童都能免受童婚的侵害。”
Stodden said she would "keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states".
2011年，考特妮与演员道格·哈钦森结婚；道格因出演《绿里奇迹》《致命时刻》和《我是山姆》等电影而闻名。她的婚姻引发了国际社会的广泛关注，她本人也多次出现在美国的真人秀节目中（包括VH1电视台的《夫妻治疗》节目）。其他曾遭受童婚伤害的人也对这项新法律表示赞赏。
She was married to actor Doug Hutchison - known for roles in The Green Mile, A Time to Kill and I Am Sam - in 2011, spurring headlines internationally over the controversy and appearances on several reality programmes in the US, including the VH1 series Couples Therapy. Other survivors of child marriage also applauded the new law.
“加利福尼亚今天向世界传递了一个明确的信息，”前童婚受害者布列塔尼·比告诉BBC：“这是一个希望的信息——让所有儿童都能摆脱系统性暴力，能够自主选择自己的未来。”比回忆说，她17岁时为了逃离虐待她的家庭而结婚，但后来却遭到丈夫的虐待。
"California has sent a clear message to the world today," Brittany Bee, a former child bride, told the BBC. "A message of hope for all children that they may be free from systemic violence. That they may choose their own path." Bee told the BBC she was wed at the age of 17 to escape an abusive home - only to then be allegedly abused by her adult husband.
“我一直在从一个‘监狱’逃到另一个‘监狱’……人们竟有脸说这是我的选择？但孩子们根本无法自主决定自己的命运，”她感叹道。比和其他童婚受害者多年来一直在努力推动加州乃至全美范围内禁止童婚。
"I was just going from one prison to another," she explained. "People have the audacity to tell me that I made a choice - kids, they can't consent." Bee and other child marriage survivors have been working for years to have child marriages banned in California and across the United States.
大约十年前，童婚在美国所有州都是合法的；但近年来越来越多的州开始修改相关法律。加利福尼亚州是自2018年以来第18个禁止童婚的州。
About a decade ago, the practice was still allowed across all US state but more and more states have been altering laws. California is the 18th to ban it since 2018.
在该州，此前并未规定法定结婚年龄，只要父母同意并由法官批准婚礼，儿童就可以结婚。
In the state, there had been no legal age to wed, allowing children to get married as long as their parents consent and a judge signs off on the nuptials.
此外，18岁以下者也没有离婚机制，许多女孩称自己被困在虐待性和掠夺性的关系中。
There was also no mechanism for people under 18 to get divorced and many girls say they were trapped in abusive and predatory relationships.
致力于终结全美童婚的倡议组织“Unchained At Last”表示，加利福尼亚州每年约有9000名女孩结婚，而几乎所有童婚都是未成年女孩与成年男性结婚。
Unchained At Last, an advocacy group fighting to end child marriage across the US, said about 9,000 girls were wed each year in California and that almost all child marriages involved girls to adult men.
倡导人士表示，美国许多人甚至不知道童婚在美国如此多的州仍是合法的，也不知道童婚已经导致虐待指控。
Advocates say that many in the US don't even know that child marriage is legal in so many US states, nor that is has led to allegations of abuse.
萨拉·塔斯尼恩称，她15岁时被迫嫁给一个年龄几乎是她两倍的男子。她告诉英国广播公司，州政府终于承认童婚应被禁止，这件事感觉“很不真实”。她说，自己从2017年起就开始为此进行游说。包办婚礼当天早上，她才被介绍给丈夫。
Sara Tasneen, who says she was forced to marry a man nearly twice her age when she was 15 years old, told the BBC that it felt "surreal" to finally have the state recognise that child marriage should be banned. She says she started lobbying for this herself in 2017. She was introduced to her husband the morning of their arranged marriage.
“我被迫成为他的妻子，而那一天，我的一生彻底改变了。”她告诉英国广播公司。第二年，16岁的她成了母亲，并从学校退学。
"I was forced to be his wife and that day, my entire life changed," she told the BBC. She became a mother the following year, at the age of 16, and dropped out of school.
塔斯尼恩说：“亲眼见证这项法案一路推进并最终成为现实，可谓是一场马拉松。我只是感到感激，2027年1月1日以后，加利福尼亚州的孩子将不能再结婚。”
"To have seen the arc of this bill come to fruition has been a marathon," Tasneen said. "I'm just grateful that kids cannot get married after January 1, 2027 in California."