Robyn Blumner | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Blumner in 2013 | |
| Born | Robyn Ellen Blumner (1961-05-14)May 14, 1961 (age 63) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (BA) New York University (JD) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, author, president and CEO at Center for Inquiry |
| Known for | Center For Inquiry Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science American Civil Liberties Union |
Robyn Ellen Blumner (born May 14, 1961) is an American attorney, civil rights expert[1] and the current president andchief executive officer (CEO) of the seculareducational organizationCenter for Inquiry (CFI) and executive director of theRichard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. She holds aJ.D. degree and worked for several years as director of local affiliates of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union advocating forcivil liberties andcivil rights before becoming a newspaper columnist and editorial writer in Florida.[2]
Blumner was born May 14, 1961,[3] inQueens, New York City. Her parents were teachers and politically active union members, her mother being a registeredDemocrat, her father being anindependent voter who occasionally votedRepublican.[4] Her grandmother had been awarded a law degree but had not practised, as women in those days were unable to obtain anapprenticeship to practice law.[4]
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 attendingHebrew school and did not have aBat 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."[5]
She was raised inGlen Cove, Long Island, and became interested in politics from a young age, leafleting for SenatorGeorge McGovern during his 1972 presidential campaign and organizing theYoung Democrats while at school.In 1982 she was awarded aB.A. degree inIndustrial and labor relations fromCornell University. From there, she went toNew York University School of Law and in 1985 completed aJ.D. degree.[3] While studying for that degree, she began working for theAmerican Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and theStaten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, where she became assistant director of labor-management relations.[4]
Around the same time, Blumner first became active as a volunteer in theAmerican Civil Liberties Union where she became absorbed byThe Reproductive Freedom Project and soon decided thatcivil liberties was a field she wanted to pursue.[4]
From 1987, Blumner held the position of executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union In Utah[6][7] where she frequently acted as spokesperson on topics such asfreedom of speech (including forwhite supremacists such asAryan Nations)[8] andabortion rights.[9]
From 1989,[9] she was director of the ACLU for Florida[10] where she campaigned on various civil liberties issues such asreproductive rights,right to demonstrate,First Amendment rights andsexual discrimination.[9] 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.[11]
Controversially, while with the ACLU, Blumner stated she is againstaffirmative 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 walkingimmutable characteristic."[9]
From 1998 to 2014, Blumner was an opinion writer for theTampa Bay Times (formerly theSt. Petersburg Times), was syndicated in papers across the country[12] and is described as a columnist and editorial writer.[13] In 2012 Blumner, along with John Hill, Joni James and Tim Nickens, was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their work at theTampa Bay Times in conducting an extensive investigation of astate governor and the effects of his inexperience on the state.[14]
Blumner is an author and contributor to several publications, including Center for Inquiry in association with the Council for Secular Humanism[15] andTime magazine[16] 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.[15]
From 2008 to 2009, she was also a regular contributor toHuffington Post.[13]
In 2004, Blumner was awarded theEmperor 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.”[17]
In February 2014, Blumner joined theRichard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) as executive director, replacing interim directorEdwina Rogers who in 2013 had been director of theSecular Coalition for America when it and RDFRS formed a partnership.[18]
In 2016, following the merger of the RDFRS with the Center for Inquiry, Blumner took over fromRonald A. Lindsay as CEO and president of CFI,[19] a position whichHemant Mehta speculated would make her “one of the most powerful women in the world of organized atheism.”[19]
Blumner regularly speaks at science education, secular and atheist conferences includingCSICon,[20]Reason Rally,[21]Apostacon[22] andDLD.[23]
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 andapostates, 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."[24] Blumner addressed the 36th Session of theUN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 20, 2017, following a surge indiscrimination 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, includingPEN Pinter Prize-winning writerAhmedur Rashid Chowdhury.[25]
Blumner describes herself as an atheist,[26] asecularist and a liberal.[5] She is married and lives inWashington, DC.[12]
