Over the past two years, this openly atheist duo have taken turns pissing off their conservative colleagues in the Arizona Legislature by giving invocations that don't reference God or Jesus. In 2013, Mendez, then a state representative from Tempe, gave a shoutout to Carl Sagan rather than offer up a prayer to any particular deity. Afterward, Republicans barred him from giving any more invocations — unless, of course, he was willing to mention a higher power. This year, Salman, who also happens to be his partner, took up the fight when Mendez moved to the state Senate and she took his place in the Arizona House of Representatives. In April, she delivered an invocation that referenced "the humanity that resides within each and every person here" — not exactly a controversial sentiment, but one that earned her a rebuke from Republican leaders. If, one day, lawmakers finally get the memo that we're no longer living in medieval times, we'll probably have these two to thank.