Jessica Ahlquist (born June 21, 1995) is an American activist and public speaker who filed a lawsuit in 2012 against Cranston High School West, where she was a student, to remove a religious prayer from its auditorium.

[1] On the day following the ruling, Rhode Island State Representative Peter G. Palumbo spoke on a local radio show and referred to Ahlquist as "an evil little thing".

[2] Since the lawsuit, Ahlquist has received a variety of media attention, and she has been an invited speaker at a number of events, including the Reason Rally, the Texas Freethought Convention and Skepticon 5.

At the end of the November meeting, out of safety concerns, a police escort was provided for Ahlquist and one other person who spoke in favor of the banner's removal.

[11] At a contentious meeting of the full committee, she argued the case for the removal of the banner and a similar display at Bain Middle School.

[14] The Cranston School Committee had made defense arrangements with Joseph V. Cavanagh, Jr. and The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty which represented them without charge.

[2] On the day following the ruling, Rhode Island State Representative Peter G. Palumbo spoke on a local radio show and referred to Ahlquist as "an evil little thing".

She speaks at approximately one venue each month,[3] including the Reason Rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2012, the largest gathering of atheists in history, alongside Richard Dawkins, Adam Savage, Eddie Izzard, Paul Provenza, PZ Myers, Dan Barker and James Randi.

[34][35] On August 16, 2011, she finished first place among the 2011 Best High School Individual Activist Award Winners, organized by the Secular Student Alliance.

[40] On April 26, 2012, Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola discussed the hate mail at Ahlquist's address in TYTUniversity, a spin-off from The Young Turks.