Robyn Blumner

Blumner was born May 14, 1961,{{cite web|last1=Wroblewski|first1=Eleanor|title=Freethought of the Day|url=https://ffrf.org/news/day/14/05/freethought/#robyn-blumner|website=Freedom From Religion Foundation|accessdate=24 April 2018}} in Queens, New York City. Her parents were teachers and politically active union members, her mother being a registered Democrat, her father being an independent voter who occasionally voted Republican.{{cite book|last1=Sillitoe|first1=Linda|title=Friendly Fire: The ACLU in Utah|date=1996|publisher=Signature Books|isbn=1560850760|url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/friendly-fire-04/|accessdate=24 April 2018}} Her grandmother had been awarded a law degree but had not practised, as women in those days were unable to obtain an apprenticeship to practice law.

Both her parents were Jewish, with her father actively practising. In an interview with the Richard Dawkins Foundation she states that she began questioning religion around the age of 11, stopped attending Hebrew school and did not have a Bat Mitzvah. Nevertheless, she acknowledges a shared Jewish identity and said: "A belief in god is not essential to being Jewish. Humanist values were far more important than religious practice to Jewish identity."{{cite web|title=Secular VIP of the Week: Robyn Blumner|url=https://www.richarddawkins.net/2014/02/secular-vip-of-the-week-robyn-blumner-2/|website=Richard Dawkins Foundation|date=11 February 2014 |accessdate=24 April 2018}}

She was raised in Glen Cove, Long Island, and became interested in politics from a young age, leafleting for Senator George McGovern during his 1972 presidential campaign and organizing the Young Democrats while at school.

In 1982 she was awarded a B.A. degree in Industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. From there, she went to New York University School of Law and in 1985 completed a J.D. degree. While studying for that degree, she began working for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, where she became assistant director of labor-management relations.

Around the same time, Blumner first became active as a volunteer in the American Civil Liberties Union where she became absorbed by The Reproductive Freedom Project and soon decided that civil liberties was a field she wanted to pursue.

From 1987, Blumner held the position of executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union In Utah{{cite web|title=American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Utah records, 1957-1994|url=http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv94485|website=Orbis Cascade|accessdate=24 April 2018}}{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Rolly|title=ACLU Director Leaving Utah and 'Unsung Heroes'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-paul-rolly-aclu/129203483/|accessdate=31 July 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date= January 15, 1989|page=B1|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}} where she frequently acted as spokesperson on topics such as freedom of speech (including for white supremacists such as Aryan Nations){{cite news|last1=Robbins|first1=William|title='Aryan Nations Hour' Mixes God and Hate in Utah|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/14/us/aryan-nations-hour-mixes-god-and-hate-in-utah.html|website=New York Times|date=14 December 1987 |accessdate=24 April 2018}} and abortion rights.

From 1989,{{cite news|last1=Hentoff|first1=Nat|authorlink=Nat Hentoff|title=A JOYOUSLY INDEPENDENT CIVIL LIBERTARIAN|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1997/09/06/a-joyously-independent-civil-libertarian/5d47ea9f-9a45-4cf1-b110-40a4124c582e/|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=24 April 2018}} she was director of the ACLU for Florida{{cite news|title=Chiles questions whether curfew can be enforced|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/232752160/|accessdate=24 April 2018|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|date= February 15, 1994|page=38|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}} where she campaigned on various civil liberties issues such as reproductive rights, right to demonstrate, First Amendment rights and sexual discrimination. That organization gave her the Gardner W. Beckett, Jr. Civil Liberties Award in 2001 and the Irene Miller Vigilance in Journalism Award in 2010 to honor her work.{{cite web|title=Annual Dinner and Award Recipients|url=https://pinellas.aclufl.org/2013/07/01/pinellas-county-chapter-of-the-american-civil-liberties-union-annual-bill-of-rights-awards-banquet/|date=July 1, 2013|accessdate=August 11, 2018|publisher=ACLU of Florida}}

Controversially, while with the ACLU, Blumner stated she is against affirmative action (also referred to as positive discrimination), saying: "I can no longer sit silently while my cohorts defend a discriminatory policy that favors groups of people solely on their gender, skin color or national origin...An advantage granted me due to my sex demeans my individuality, reducing me to a walking immutable characteristic."

From 1998 to 2014, Blumner was an opinion writer for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times), was syndicated in papers across the country and is described as a columnist and editorial writer. In 2012 Blumner, along with John Hill, Joni James and Tim Nickens, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their work at the Tampa Bay Times in conducting an extensive investigation of a state governor and the effects of his inexperience on the state.{{cite web|title=The Pulitzer Prizes|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/tim-nickens-joni-james-john-hill-and-robyn-blumner|website=Pulitzer.org|accessdate=24 April 2018}}

Blumner is an author and contributor to several publications, including Center for Inquiry in association with the Council for Secular Humanism{{cite web|title=Robyn Blumner, author|url=http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Robyn+blumner&dblist=638&fq=&qt=facet_all_ap%3A|website=World Cat|accessdate=25 April 2018}} and Time magazine{{cite web|last1=Blumner|first1=Robyn|last2=Dawkins|first2=Richard|authorlink2=Richard Dawkins|title=Atheists Aren't the Problem, Christian Intolerance Is the Problem|url=https://time.com/3450525/atheists-arent-the-problem-christian-intolerance-is-the-problem/|website=Time Magazine|date=30 September 2014 |access-date=26 April 2018}} in her capacity as CEO and president of CFI, and for her experience in civil liberties. She has contributed essays and forewords to several published works by other authors.

From 2008 to 2009, she was also a regular contributor to Huffington Post.{{cite web|title=Author bio|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/robyn-blumner|website=Huffington Post|accessdate=26 April 2018}}

File:Robyn Blumner CSICon 2017 Thu Oct 26.jpg in 2017]]

In 2004, Blumner was awarded the Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which describes it as an “award celebrating ‘plain speaking’ on the shortcomings of religion by public figures.”{{cite web|title=Emperor Has No Clothes Award|url=https://ffrf.org/outreach/awards/emperor-has-no-clothes-award/item/11889-robyn-e-blumner|website=Freedom From Religion Foundation|date=August 15, 2004 |accessdate=24 April 2018}}

In February 2014, Blumner joined the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) as executive director, replacing interim director Edwina Rogers who in 2013 had been director of the Secular Coalition for America when it and RDFRS formed a partnership.{{cite web|last1=Anderson Youngblood|first1=Lauren|title=Dawkins Foundation Announces Robyn Blumner as New Executive Director|url=https://www.secular.org/news/dawkins-foundation-announces-robyn-blumner-new-executive-director|website=Secular Coalition for America|accessdate=24 April 2018}}

In 2016, following the merger of the RDFRS with the Center for Inquiry, Blumner took over from Ronald A. Lindsay as CEO and president of CFI,{{cite news|last1=Winston|first1=Kimberley|title='Royal wedding' of atheist group, Richard Dawkins Foundation launches woman to top post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/royal-wedding-of-atheist-group-richard-dawkins-foundation-launches-woman-to-top-post/2016/01/21/05ba82ae-c085-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=24 April 2018}} a position which Hemant Mehta speculated would make her “one of the most powerful women in the world of organized atheism.”

Blumner regularly speaks at science education, secular and atheist conferences including CSICon,{{cite web|last1=Frazier|first1=Kendrick|authorlink=Kendrick Frazier|title=CSICON Las Vegas 2017|url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/csicon_las_vegas_2017|website=Skeptical Inquirer|date=March 2018 |publisher=CSI|accessdate=26 April 2018}} Reason Rally,{{cite web|title=Robyn Blumner at Reason Rally 2016|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=8CP9ySwZ6MM|website=Reason Rally Coalition| date=August 13, 2016 |publisher=Youtube|accessdate=26 April 2018}} Apostacon{{cite web|title=Robyn Blumner and Stephanie Guttormson at Apostacon 2015|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=uYaeNPOkhgI|website=Apostacon| date=November 20, 2015 |publisher=Youtube|accessdate=26 April 2018}} and DLD.{{cite web|title=Robyn Blumner|url=http://dld-conference.com/users/richard-dawkins|website=DLD|accessdate=26 April 2018}}

In 2016, as president of the Center for Inquiry, Blumner championed a new global initiative called Secular Rescue which aims to protect and provide emergency support to non-believers, atheists and apostates, if necessary giving them an escape route from violence and death threats as well as diplomatic and legal assistance. "It’s really an underground railroad of sorts for non-believers in countries where simply expressing doubt about religious belief is a criminal offense or where it may lead to grave physical harm."{{cite web|last1=Brayton|first1=Ed|title=Secular Rescue: The Underground Railroad for Atheists|url=http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article42981|website=Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres|accessdate=29 April 2018}} Blumner addressed the 36th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 20, 2017, following a surge in discrimination against atheists in Malaysia, bringing pressure to bear on the issue of freedom of conscience. As of January 2018, Secular Rescue claims to have provided emergency aid to 30 individuals, including PEN Pinter Prize-winning writer Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury.{{cite web|last1=Robson|first1=David|title=The 'Underground Railroad' To Save Atheists|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/the-underground-railroad-to-save-atheists/550229/|website=The Atlantic|date=18 January 2018 |accessdate=24 April 2018}}

Blumner describes herself as an atheist,{{cite news|last1=Blumner|first1=Robyn E.|title=I'm an atheist - so what?|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329740928/|accessdate=27 April 2018|work=St. Petersburg Times|date=8 August 2004|page=126|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}} a secularist and a liberal. She is married and lives in Washington, DC.{{cite web|last1=Blumner|first1=Robyn E.|title=Blumner: Thanks for reading; it has been an honor|url=https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/blumner-thanks-for-reading-it-has-been-an-honor/2161453/|website=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=24 April 2018}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.centerforinquiry.net}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BtuJWCT7_A Robyn Blumner addresses the 36th Session of the UNHRC], September 20, 2017.

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Category:Living people

Category:1961 births

Category:American Civil Liberties Union people

Category:American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees people

Category:American women journalists

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Jewish American atheism activists

Category:New York University School of Law alumni

Category:Secular humanists

Category:American women chief executives