Hello Skepticoners!
We’re happy to announce a panel for this year’s virtual event. Introducing: How to Fix Everything
About the panel:
“There is too much to fix. No one can do it all, no matter how important it all is. That’s why we organize. But organizations still need your help. (Needing your money is a different panel.) Come find out what orgs are asking you to do when they send an action alert—and what they do to amplify your voice when you answer their call.“
And our panelists:
Debbie Goddard is an organizer with experience in secular and skeptic organizing, queer activism, and racial justice work. Recently hired as VP, Programs at American Atheists, she now oversees American Atheists’ organizing, activism, and outreach programs and is a senior member of the leadership team. Before joining American Atheists, Debbie worked at the Center for Inquiry directing Campus & Community Programs and African Americans for Humanism. While there, she launched a national billboard campaign highlighting black freethinkers, coordinated an international campaign on blasphemy laws and free expression, and organized the Women in Secularism 4 conference and the annual CFI Leadership Conferences.
Jen Scott is a community organizer and grassroots activist who has planned several protests including the Ark Encounter Protests, actions countering the KKK & the Westboro Baptist Church, and is an organizer for March for Science Cincinnati and Cincinnati Pride. She received the 2018 American Atheists Activist of the Year award at the national convention in Oklahoma City for her work as Kentucky State Director.
In 2019, she co-founded the Community of Reason (COR): Atheists and Humanists of Ohio and Kentucky based in Cincinnati. COR envisions a secular society that values science, reason, integrity, compassion and true equality for everyone.
She currently works for Equality Ohio as the Southwest Ohio Regional Organizer.
Sam McGuire has a varied background in counseling, education, event planning and volunteer management. As American Atheists’ National Field Director, she works with local grassroots activists, volunteers and affiliates to help them engage on emerging local civil rights issues, advocate for state level legislation, and build thriving communities.
Sam became involved in secular organizing and activism following the 2012 Reason Rally, first becoming a founding member of the Southern Maryland Chapter of the Washington Area Secular Humanists (WASH) and later President of the regional organization. Sam has volunteered for the American Humanist Association, Camp Quest Chesapeake, and the Secular Coalition for America. In 2016, she was the volunteer coordinator for over 200 volunteers for Reason Rally, as well as helping coordinate on-site logistics. She was elected to the Board of Directors and as President of the Reason Rally Coalition. Sam previously served as a volunteer regional director overseeing the local activism in the Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland areas for American Atheists, earning her the Atheist Activist of the Year award in 2019.
Sam has a Bachelor’s of Science in Neuropsychology from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s of Science in Counseling from Johns Hopkins. She is a National Certified Counselor and a Certified Humanist Celebrant.
Unapologetically Black, same gender loving, HIV positive & atheist. All of these descriptors speak to the identity of the New Orleans native who at age fifteen took part in the founding of one of the first Gay/straight alliances ever in a New Orleans area high school. That was the genesis of his work as a civil rights activist. He knows what being marginalized looks and feels like which informs his philosophy that Black liberation and justice must be inter-sectional. Ashton’s belief in Black liberation and inter-sectional justice is highlighted by his active involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement, racial justice, feminism, LGBTQ rights and secular activism.
Ashton is currently based in Houston, TX and is the Co-Founder & lead organizer for Black Lives Matter: Houston. When he isn’t organizing, Ashton acts as Co-Chair for the Black Humanist Alliance, which is a coalition of secular activists under the American Humanist Association. In the LGBT community Ashton is very involved in the fight for equality and his efforts led to a recent appointment to the City of Houston’s first LGBT advisory board. As the founder of the Strength In Numbers Project and blog he writes about issues affecting the Black community while implementing the tenets set forth in the main project (more info). In addition to his own blog, Ashton writes as a blogger for POZ magazine and has contributed to many publications like The Humanist, The Body, Houston Press, and many others on a myriad of subjects.
Join us on Saturday, August 15th at 2:30pm CST for this amazing panel! RSVP to the Facebook event here — we’ll put the link you need in the description!
Love,
Skepticon
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