The ceremony lasted four minutes.
Patricia Lane was 14. On May 21, 1980, she entered the office of an Alabama probate judge, and her mother was the only witness.
Standing opposite her was 27-year-old Timothy Gurney. With her mother’s signature, she was legally handed over to a man twice her age.
Patricia had become pregnant at 13, after suffering sexual abuse from a very young age. At 12, she had called a crisis hotline, where she met the man who would later become her husband.
Her evangelical family from Minnesota didn’t see a vulnerable girl: according to her account, her mother accused her of dishonoring the family and demanded that she marry to make things right. Her first daughter was placed for adoption.
When she received the certificate, she crossed to the park opposite the courthouse and climbed onto a swing. Her mother and new husband were furious. She was a girl doing what girls do, minutes after signing away the rest of her life.
Today, Patricia is 58 and speaking from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She says her husband wouldn’t let her have friends and that she still struggles with isolation.
Forty-five years later, the underlying problem remains: the U.S. has no federal minimum age for marriage, and each state decides for itself. Only 16 states, plus Washington, DC, set a minimum age, and in Alabama, a minor under 16 can marry with the permission of one parent.
How can it be legal for a parent to sign away their daughter?