Freethought-Now

When I heard the news that Gloria Steinem had died, my thoughts immediately turned to Robin Morgan, Steinem’s sister rabble-rouser, wondering how Robin was taking the loss.

Then yesterday I opened my New York Times only to sadly learn that Robin herself died three days after Gloria, on Saturday, Sept. 5. This striking propinquity reminded both Dan and me of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson poignantly dying on the same day (July 4, 1826), thinking of each other. Or, as my colleague Angela pointed out, how spouses die in close succession.

Both were feminist icons, firm friends and helped change the world. Robin, like Steinem, was not religious, but was much more outspoken on that subject. Like Steinem, Robin also accepted a much-deserved award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in Robin’s case, our “Freethought Heroine” Award at our annual 2005 convention in Orlando, Fla.

Robin’s greatest claim to fame was co-founding the tongue-in-cheek Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, which created a firestorm by daring to picket “Miss America” in 1968. The myth that “bras were burned” began after feminist protesters on the Atlantic City boardwalk famously threw symbols of women’s subjugation — girdles, bras, hair curlers, mops, etc. — into trashbins, then unfurled a large banner reading, “Women’s Liberation,” inside the pageant hall. They made international news and they made history. No one alive and sentient at the time, including myself at age 12, ever forgot those astonishing images!

Later, I learned about the woman behind the protest through her writings for Ms. Magazine and from her classic book, “Sisterhood Is Powerful.” Until I read her obituary in the Times, however, I never realized Robin, also an artist, created the instantly recognizable red-and-white cover graphic depicting the circled sign for woman with a clenched fist in the center. When Ms. began to falter in 1989, Gloria asked Robin to become editor-in-chief. After winning awards for the magazine, she resigned five years later but stayed on as a contributor.

And that’s how she came to our attention, when Ms. published her 2004 essay, “Fighting Words for a Secular America.” She not only summarized the Founders’ views on state/church separation and raised the alarm about the growing political power of the religious right, but,  thrillingly to us, gave a shoutout in a sidebar to FFRF itself and mentioned our website! My mother, Anne Gaylor, FFRF president emeritus, had also caught Robin on C-SPAN likewise talking up separation of state and church, and once again praising FFRF by name.

What else could we do but invite her to our convention? Robin praised FFRF as “fan-fucking-tastic” in her speech, in which she warned that women are the “canaries in the mine.” She added, “It’s not surprising that this organization was co-founded by women. There’s a long history stretching for millennia of women in rebellion against the rules, strictures and interpretation of the mysteries of the universe.”

Robin also previewed her forthcoming book, “Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combatting the Religious Right,” and, to our delight, later asked us for some of our thoughts about what to include in it. It came out in 2006 — and FFRF’s shop is still selling it!

From the moment we connected about convention details, Robin Morgan extended her warm friendship. She invariably greeted me on the phone as “Darling” or “M’dear.” We only met in person once at that convention, but she regularly invited me, usually around the Winter Solstice, on her long-lasting radio show/podcast, which was part of the Women’s Media Center that she, Gloria and Jane Fonda started.

Dan and I reciprocated, inviting her five times on Freethought Radio over the years. And we had the pleasure of interviewing her on “Freethought Matters,” FFRF’s former TV show, in 2021.

Robin supported FFRF over the years, writing in 2015 upon FFRF’s 40th anniversary: “For 40 intrepid years, FFRF has been the principled voice and activist vanguard for those of us who care passionately about preserving the separation of church and state that is so fundamental to our democracy. Let me put it plainly: If Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Paine were alive today, they would be proud to be supporters of FFRF. And so would Elizabeth Cady Stanton!”

My favorite of her books was her remarkable memoir, “Saturday’s Child,” so-called because, as the nursery rhyme goes, “Saturday’s child has to work for a living.” Her work life started when she was a toddler model. By age 5, she had her own weekly call-in program, “The Little Robin Morgan Show.” She began acting at about age 8, starring in “Mama,” a TV show about a hard-scrabble Norwegian immigrant family living in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Robin played “Dagmar.” Despite this and other acting successes, Robin quit at 16 to become a writer. And Robin has left the world more than 20 books, nonfiction, poetry, fiction — as well as a wealth of secular inspiration.

What I said in introducing her back in 2005 is my epitaph for her: “Robin, we are enchanted to have found in you — a famous feminist, journalist, editor, lecturer, organizer and activist — a kindred non-spirit.”

Disclaimer: The views in this column are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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