Aimee Pine, 27, is the Director of Operations for Equality Illinois, a statewide political advocacy group, where she runs all special events, organizes media outreach and lobbies for GLBT equal rights. Last January, Aimee organized the annual gala for EQIL. With 1,200 people in attendance, it was the biggest gala to date for EQIL. Unequal opportunities for housing and jobs in the GLBT community are only a few issues Aimee has strived to change in Illinois through her work. The lack of civil rights granted to the GLBT community is one of the biggest issues facing the community, Aimee said, and through her work at EQIL she is trying to address these issues.
Aimee worked on Tom Tunney’s historic aldermanic campaign and cites the night he was elected as the first openly gay alderman in Chicago as ‘probably the happiest night of [her] life’. She served as one of only three paid staff members working on the campaign, and scheduled and organized many events. Aimee says her role models have been state representative and GLBT-advocate Sara Feigenholtz and Michael Leppen of the Hoover Foundation because of his generosity and the work he’s done for the community.