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Marsha Botzer
Activist
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Marsha Botzer has served the LGBT community for more than 30 years and is the founder of Seattle's Ingersoll Gender Center. Marsha has twice served as the co-chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, was the national co-chair of the 2008 Obama Pride Campaign, and is a faculty member of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's Emerging Leaders Program.
Marsha has won numerous awards for her activism and leadership and is a vocal advocate for atheists in the LGBT community.
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Greta Christina
Author & Blogger
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Greta Christina is one of the most widely-read atheist bloggers. She is the author of Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless. Greta is a regular atheist correspondent for AlterNet and has been writing about atheism and skepticism on her blog since 2005. Greta's writings have appeared in multiple magazines and newspapers, including Skeptical Inquirer and Everything You Know About God Is Wrong.
In addition to covering atheist-related issues, Greta blogs about sexuality, being sex-positive, LGBT issues, politics, and much more. She recently released her new book Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.
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Brian Keith Dalton
Creator, Mr. Deity
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Brian Keith Dalton is the creator of Mr. Deity, a video series which is among the most popular podcasts on iTunes and on YouTube. Mr. Deity has millions of viewers and has included guest appearances by Penn Jillette, Michael Shermer, Julia Sweeny, and our very own David Silverman.
Brian uses Mr. Deity to put into context the abstract religious concepts which adherents accept without a second thought in order to make people think about what it is they actually believe.
You can see episodes of Mr. Deity on YouTube.
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Matt Dillahunty
Host, Atheist Experience
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Matt Dillahunty is the host of The Atheist Experience, one of the most-watched atheist shows on the Internet, which is also aired locally on Austin public television. After leaving the Navy, Matt wanted to pursue becoming a Baptist minister, but his religious studies led him to reject his Christianity. Matt is also the former President of the Atheist Community of Austin. Matt has participated in numerous debates both online and in person in front of large audiences.
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Barbara Hillary
Adventurer
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Barbara Hillary was born and raised in New York City and, after a career as a nurse, became an arctic explorer and adventurer. On April 23, 2007, Barbara reached the North Pole and, in 2011, at the age of 79, became the first African-American woman to reach both poles.
Barbara has been an outspoken advocate for community improvement and was the founder of the Averne Action Association, which works to improve the quality of life in Averne, New York and the Rockaway Peninsula community. She was the founder and Editor-in-Cheif of The Peninsula Magazine, the first multiracial magazine published by an African-American woman in Queens County, New York.
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Sikivu Hutchinson
Author & Activist
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Sikivu Hutchinson, Ph.D. is the author of Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars and, more recently, Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels and has taught a variety of courses at UCLA, the California Institute of Arts, and Western Washington University.
Sikivu has written and spoken extensively on the politics of atheism and their implication for African Americans. She is the editor of Black Skeptics Blog and the founder of Black Skeptics LA. She currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Institute of Humanist Studies.
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Rev. Barry Lynn
Executive Director, Americans United
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Rev. Barry Lynn is the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a position he has held since 1992. Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University in 1978 and is a member of the Washington, DC and US Supreme Court bars. He has served as legislative counsel for the United Church of Christ's Office of Church in Society and for the Washington Office of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Rev. Lynn is a frequent contributor to a number of television and radio programs where he offers his perspective on First Amendment issues.
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Rep. Juan Mendez
Arizona House of Representatives
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Juan Mendez is a member of the Arizona State House of Representatives, where he represents District 26, which includes parts of Tempe, Mesa, and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community.
Rep. Mendez drew the attention of atheists throughout Arizona and all across the United States when he gave a secular invocation on the floor of the Arizona State House. He quoted Carl Sagan and urged his fellow members of the House to "root our policymaking process in the values that are relevant to all Arizonans regardless of religious belief or nonbelief."
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Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar
Activist
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Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar is an Iraqi born writer currently living in the United States. Born in 1991, Faisal is the founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement and Secular Post. He is working on a book, Dogma, which discusses the dangers of unsubstantiated beliefs and how we can live a better life without them.
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PZ Myers
Biologist & Blogger
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PZ Myers is a biologist at the University of Minnesota Morris, with a special interest in developmental biology and evolution. Perhaps best-known for his extremely popular blog, Pharyngula, Myers has been a regular and outspoken critic of "intelligent design" and of religion generally.
PZ's first book, The Happy Atheist, will be published in August 2013.
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Maryam Namazie
Activist
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Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist within the freethough movement. She has worked as the Executive Director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees and is the spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign, which works against Sharia law in Britain.
Maryam was central to the organization of the worldwide protests against the treatment of Bangladeshi atheist bloggers.
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