Anne Nicol Gaylor: 1985 Humanist Heroine."Women are going to be free. They are going to determine their reproductive lives as they wish; this is the essence of dignity and personal freedom. No one can know better than a woman herself whether it is best for her to bear a child. In a world that cannot possibly take care of the children it already has, what folly to force unwilling women to bear unwanted children." --Anne Nicol Gaylor in Abortion is a Blessing, 1975 Anne Gaylor is a founder, president, and executive director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American Freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism. , an association of freethinkers freethinkers, those who arrive at conclusions, particularly in questions of religion, by employing the rules of reason while rejecting supernatural authority or ecclesiastical tradition. in Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and , working to keep church and state separate and to educate the public about the views of nontheists. Born in rural Wisconsin and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Gaylor first gained national attention through her outspoken views regarding abortion. She also organized a nationwide counseling and referral service. Her 1975 book, Abortion is a Blessing, provides a compelling and candid argument for abortion rights. Now a successful author and activist, Gaylor remains actively involved in work for women's rights The effort to secure equal rights for women and to remove gender discrimination from laws, institutions, and behavioral patterns. The women's rights movement began in the nineteenth century with the demand by some women reformers for the right to vote, known as suffrage, and and has served as the volunteer administrator of the Women's Medical Fund, which has helped more than 1,000 women in need pay for abortions. But Gaylor has gone beyond. Seeing women's reproductive rights as a part of a larger problem of the encroachment of religion into the lives of freethinkers, she founded the Freedom From Religious Foundation, an educational organization working for the separation of church and state
FFRF Formation Flying Radio-Frequency FFRF FANUC FA and Robot Foundation FFRF fat-free refed has become a national group with representation in every state and Canada, a tremendous expansion from the initial three Wisconsin members. It acts on numerous violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including prayers in public schools, payment of public funds for religious purposes (such as the erection of religious monuments on public property), government funding of sectarian institutions, and denials of civil rights to women, gays, and lesbians. FFRF achievements include winning a federal court decision that overturned a law declaring Good Friday to be a state holiday, winning a legal challenge after 51 years of illegal Bible instruction in Rhea rhea, in zoology rhea (rē`ə), common name for a South American bird of the family Rheidae, which is related to the ostrich. Weighing from 44 to 55 lb (20–25 kg) and standing up to 60 in. County (Dayton, Tennessee) schools, and ending a variety of similar church-state violations. In 1985 Gaylor received the Humanist Heroine Award from the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association The American Humanist Association (AHA) is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. It is the original Humanist organization, and embraces secular, religious, and other manifestations of Humanist philosophy. . |
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