Kayley Whalen

Kayley Whalen is a queer activist and writer whose work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the Lambda-Award winning anthology Gender Outlaws the Next Generation, The Humanist magazine and numerous blogs. She is a vocal atheist, drug policy reformer and proud geek. As if she weren’t busy enough with all that, Kayley is the Digital Strategies and Social Media Manager at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and she volunteers with Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center, and is on the Board of Directors of Ingersoll Gender Center.

As a multiracial white and Latina transgender woman, she is excited about building an intersectional atheist and queer social justice movement. A childhood fascination with Isaac Asimov, rocketry and Air & Space magazine led her to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. There, she built and entered robots in Botball competitions, which she funded by baking pies. While she initially studied engineering at Rice University, she graduated Swarthmore College with a degree in English Literature and Women’s Studies in 2007. Kayley skated with the DC Rollergirls All-Stars under the name “Lenore Gore.”  Although she no longer builds robots or plays roller derby, she still loves science, baking, and can totally kick your ass at yoga.

She’s very excited to be a part of Skepticon, and we’re overjoyed to have her!