LGBT rights activist and Linux newbie, even after 12 years.
My first contact with Linux (and Unix overall) was with WinLinux 2000, a Slackware-based Linux distro with KDE that could be booted from within Windows 9x.
I came across Ubuntu when it was 9.04 and tried it intermittently in the last 3 years. A couple months ago I installed 12.04 using Wubi, and even though Windows 7 is still installed, I almost never use it. Ubuntu is my favorite!