TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Legislation largely blocking minors from getting married took effect July 1 in Florida.
Now the Tampa woman who was a moving force behind the new Florida law generally barring marriage for people under the age of 18, is pushing other states to ban child marriage as well.
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Sherry Johnson was just 8 when she said she was first raped by her church deacon.
"(It) devastated my life," Johnson said.
She said she was forced to marry the adult rapist at age 11. By the time she was 17, she had six children.
“When little girls were playing with Barbie dolls, I was attending to a real doll," Johnson said.
Johnson has lobbied for an outright ban on marriage licenses for people under 18.
A cable network documentary is in the work about Johnson's story. She's also negotiating a contract to update her book, "Forgiving the Unforgivable."
Johnson revealed that she once confronted her mother about what happened to her.
"And why did she allow these things to happen to me," she said. "It ended up in a situation where I regret actually even going to her."
Still, the two have a relationship.
“I forgive her for all the things that she did not do and that she allowed to happen to me," Johnson said.
For her, the book and the documentary are part of her healing process. So is her advocacy.
“I’m looking to actually go across the nation to cover this. Where a child won’t be married before the age of 18," she said.
Other states have followed suit. But Johnson said she won’t quit until she’s sure what happened to her won’t happen to anyone else again anywhere in the United States.
In the past in Florida, minors ages 16 and 17 had been able to get marriage licenses with parental consent, and judges had discretion to issue licenses to younger minors if they had children or if pregnancies were involved.
Under the new law, marriage is generally be barred for people under age 18, though an exception is in place for 17-year-olds who have written consent from their parents or guardians. Also, the 17-year-olds are not be able to marry people who are more than two years older than them.