In my first month at Equality Illinois, I spoke with a man who had just moved to Illinois from Iowa with his husband. He was shocked that, having fought for so long for equal rights in his native state, he lost them upon crossing the border. “We moved 100 miles, not 100 years,” – he said. “What rights do we have as a couple now?” That is the most difficult part of our work. I have no problem calling out a lawmaker who does not see LGBT equality as a matter of basic fairness, and I love talking to our allies about how we can move forward. But the difficult truth is that we do not yet have full equal rights. We have accomplished much in this great State of Illinois, and we have a lot of which to be proud. We were among the first and early states to pass broad non-discrimination protections that covered both sexual orientation and gender identity. We organized forcefully and effectively to beat back anti-gay ballot initiative. With the eye on the ultimate mission, we traversed the entire State, hitting communities large and small, making the case for equality. And in the past year alone, we registered thousands of new voters and connected thousands more with their representatives in Springfield. Each of you supporting our work throughout the year deserves credit for how far we have come. As members of the community and as allies, you speak up in your neighborhoods, at your workplaces, and at the ballot box about the importance of respect and full equality under the law for LGBT people. But we still have such a long way to go. I do not have to tell you about committed same-sex couples who are denied the most basic relationship protections, or about transgender people whose lives can be subjected to the whim of unsympathetic bureaucrats, or students bullied and harassed in schools. These are urgent challenges requiring our urgent action and, with your help, Equality Illinois is taking them on. We have a busy year ahead working toward statewide relationship recognition, organizing our allies through our Allied For Equality initiative, creating positive school resources through our School (in)Equality Project, building bridges with communities of faith – to name just a few. Join us, and together we can change both laws and attitudes. We can only succeed with your participation and support. I look forward to another year of our shared successes.
JEREMY H GOTTSCHALK PRESIDENT
DALILA FRIDI
VICE PRESIDENT
CATHERINE SIKORA VICE PRESIDENT
MICHAEL JEFVERT TREASURER
JOHN PARRO SECRETARY
DANIEL L DEVER TOBY EVELAND VERNITA GRAY WILLIAM HALL STEPHEN S HERSETH ARTHUR L JOHNSTON TONYA WILKES MOORE ROBERTO ROMERO-PEREZ ALBERTO SENIOR JOHNNY SONG KYLE SPAINHOUR LAURIE R WEISBERG COETY WYSE
ABOVE LEFT SUPPORTER SIGNING LETTER FOR FEDERAL ENDA BILL (CARBONDALE) ABOVE RIGHT ANTI HB RALLY (2008) BELOW ANNOUNCEMENT OF US SENATOR ROLAND BURRIS’S SUPPORT OF D.A.D.T.
STAFF
BERNARD CHERKASOV CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
RICK GARCIA DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC POLICY
CAROLINE STAERK DIRECTOR OF FIELD PROGRAMS
JOEY McDONALD OPERATIONS MANAGER
BILL TRUDE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
ROBIN CZAR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
JOY CONKLIN ACCOUNTANT
ABOVE LEFT DAY OF SILENCE AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ABOVE RIGHT METRO EAST PRIDE FESTIVAL BELOW LEFT ANNUAL GALA 2009 | BELOW RIGHT CELEBRITY PIE TOSS BENEFIT
Allied for Equality is a joint project of Equality Illinois (EQIL) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) - Northern Illinois PFLAG Council. The mission is to secure equal rights for all LGBT individuals and celebrate the diverse race, age, disabilities, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity of everyone who helps in this struggle, with the specific focus of creating a network of straight allies and advocates in Illinois. Why allies specifically? Because the more voices added to this struggle, the louder we are! As Chas, EQIL’s intern reminds us, “we can’t do it on our own.” We believe that bringing allies into the movement is not a separate task, but rather completes the circle of “one struggle, one fight.” We have to do this together – LGBTQ and A! At the outset, our biggest challenge was getting the word out. So we did what we love to do - talked to community organizations, faith communities, individuals and tabled at festivals/outreach events. We also learned how to use and incorporate “social networking” (new world to me) to spread the word, thanks to students at Columbia. As the first couple months passed, we heard from allies across the state who had a loved one, friend, or coworker who is LGBT or someone who identified as LGBT and wanted to do something. Other folks didn’t really have LGBT rights on their radar but they made a commitment to become more educated. From a few dedicated individuals, the project soon grew to a couple hundred people! From the beginning and throughout the past year, I have met amazing people who volunteered their time, put together fundraisers, crafted our first newsletter, and did everything from knocking on someone else’s door for civil unions to calling about national ENDA to having the courage to stop anti-gay conversation when they hear one. We visited Carbondale and Springfield and towns in between, and though we have all encountered negativity, I was overwhelmed by support and courage displayed by people throughout the state. Nathan is one such individual. “As an ally, I have been involved in canvassing neighborhoods, phone calls, signing up new members and even traveling to Springfield to lobby our state representatives – whatever I could do to provide more exposure for the issue of equality.” As a project, Allied for Equality, continues to do the outreach across Illinois that is needed to secure equal protection. That means going to more towns across the state, speaking to more college and faith communities, and overall engaging individuals to get involved. We still have a lot to do to strengthen popular support for LGBT equality, to make further inroads with legislators and individuals who need to hear our message. Join us on facebook, twitter (allied4equality), linked-in, myspace or at www.alliedforequality.org (and don’t forget to tell your family and friends too!). See you on the road!
REGISTERING
thousands of new Illinois voters
HELPING
businesses develop fair employment policies & domestic partnership benefits
EDUCATION
Illinois residents and legislators about LGBT Equality
DEVELOPING
a strong network on over 15,000 supporters throughout the state
ENCOURAGING discussion of LGBT issues in media
FOSTERING safe schools
PROMOTING
welcoming communities of faith
ORGANIZING
and training activists in city after city. town after town
EXPANDING
statewide grassroots support for LGBT issues and initiatives
BUILDING
bridges & strengthening partnerships with other progressive groups
CONDUCTING
polls & surveys of public attitudes and support for LGBT equality
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS
$126,469
CORPORATE SPONSORS
$ 19,050
FOUNDATION GRANTS
$ 18,000
SPECIAL EVENTS
$457,034
PROGRAM EVENTS
$ 76,709
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS
$ 20,400
MISCELLANEOUS INCOME
$ 35,457
TOTAL REVENUE
$735,137
EDUCATION & PROGRAMS
$474,734
GENERAL SUPPORT & ADMIN
$198,310
FUNDRAISING & SPECIAL EVENTS
$236,569
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES $909,613
The numbers represent the audited combined figures for Equality Illinois and Equality Illinois Education Project. Please contact Joey McDonald, Operations Manager, at 773-477-7173 ext.102 or jmcdonald@eqil.org to request a copy of our independent auditor’s report.
Windy City Sweets Winston & Strawn Wirtz Beverage Illinois Whole Foods
FOUNDATIONS Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust Gill Foundation Lifeboat Foundation PFLAG Illinois Council Tides Foundation
CORPORATIONS Allen Brothers Arnstein & Lehr ADH Events AT&T Bacardi Bank of America BoystownChicago.com Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione Chicago Free Press ChicagoPride.com Dykema Gallo Family Vineyards GayChicago Greenberg Traurig Harris Bank Hilton Chicago Jenner & Block J&L Catering Kirkland & Ellis LLP Kraft Latham & Watkins Marshall, Gerstein & Borun McDermott Will & Emery LLP Miller Lite Moet Hennessy USA Morten Group Motorola MTM Media Neal Gerber Eisenberg LLP Omnibus Orbitz Out & About Perkins Coie Pernod Ricard Pink Agenda Quarles & Brady LLP Sidetrack Sidley Austin LLP Skadden Arps LLP Toolbox Inc Walgreens Wilde Design Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon Windy City Media Group
THE CAPITOL CLUB BENEFACTOR
Jeremy Davis & Mario Sullivan
PRINCIPAL
Arthur L. Johnston & Jose Pena Frank Quinn & Craig Andree Laura Ricketts & Heidi Grathouse Dr. Nan Schaffer & Karen Dixon
LEADER
Robert Brumbaugh Yvette Chavez & Lisa Gershenson David Cooley Mark Cozzi & James Goeke Chris Olofson J.N. Pritzker
SUSTAINER
James Alexander & Curtis Drayer Dalila Fridi & Elizabeth McKnight Jeremy H. Gottschalk Philip Hannema James LoBianco Gary Metzner & Scott Johnson Arthur Ostry Peter Tortorello & Robert Wolf Christy Webber & Jennifer Rule
ACTIVIST
Bradford Ballast Barb Bancroft John Becvar & Jim Walsh John & Charlene Cepek Hon. Thomas Chiola & Drew Jemilo Sue Connolly & Han Vo Daniel L. Dever June Donka & Kay Carter Jim Downey & Loren Eade Claude Foreit Jacqueline & Daniel Frett Chris Gawart Randy Georgemiller & Nico Gozal Vernita Gray Jeffrey Grinspoon & Jon Thomas Foley Stephen & Mary Jo Herseth Michael Jefvert & Alexander deHilster David Kovy Laura Lee Larson, Ed. D. Tom Meier & Milo Aguilar Charles Middleton & John Geary Michael Mitsoglou & Christopher Pare Dr. Carlos Mock & Bill Rattan
Dirk Mol & Jerry Wray Robert Neubert & Barry Brunetti Seamas O'Driscoll John Parro & Jerry Teske Arief Pribadi & Jason Perry Roberto Romero-Perez & Richard Trester Alberto Senior & Alan Eaks Catherine & Linda Sikora Johnny Song & Ray Koenig III Kyle Spainhour & Eric Siemers Lawrence Tanner & Thomas Burroughs Thomas Thorne-Thomsen Al Torrence & Don McDevitt Hon. Thomas Tunney Laurie R. Weisberg John Whitehurst & Whitney Allen
ADVOCATE
Rob Abernathy & Peter Vamvakas Zoe Allen & Bethany Cook Austin Baidas Fran Bailey & Mary Kay Buettgen James Bailey Christin Baker & Deborah Mell Bradley Balof Paula Basta & Terri Worman William Borah Kristina Broderick Steven Bruehl & Cesar Barradas Jerry Burgdoerfer Bernard Cherkasov & Danny Cohen John Chester Rocco Claps Sam Coady Robert Cohn Kurt Dahl & Jeff Clark Nicholas Dehnert Janine Dettbarn Daniel Dever Brian Donlan Clyde Ebanks Ryan Endress & Ira Dym Walter Eppich William Toby Eveland Christopher Fleck David Frank Michael Fruchter Mary Beth Glotzbach & Barbara Rosen Jason Gosnell & Jason Roberts Matthew Griffin & Jason Chau David Hall & Michael Nugent Anthony Hand Lori Hannigan & Roseann Mireles Kevin Hauswirth
Dean Hobart Laura Hool Kelly Jones & Quincy Fuller Dennis Kane Douglas Kershner Daniel Kirk & Brian Wolff John Larson Elizabeth Lassner June LaTrobe Eric Ledbetter Robert Levels Jeffrey Lewis Harlene Liss Terrence McBride Kevin McGirr Hon. Mike McHale Ellen Meyers & Dr. Elena Yatzeck Steve Monaghan & Jacob Trzaskos Kevin Mork & Adam Larson Donald Nowotny & Carl McDowell Thomas O'Connell & Bryan Portman Matthew O'Maley Terri Pease & Rev. Deborah Lake Jason Pierce Joseph Powers & Duane Cole David Prindable Denise Punka Alan & Irene Redman John Schmidt Nancy Schmidt & Dr. Julia Rahn Karen Sewell Debra Shore & Kathleen Gillespie Leonard Sobczak Rusty Sproat Daniel Sproull & Dane Rausch Paul Steinke Howard Suskin & Peter Olson Mary Trew & Lisa Bekier Frank Villella David Wells Ed Wierman Darrell Windle & Dave Samber Mark Wheeler
IN KIND
Fred Cooper Rick Garcia & Ernest Hunsperger Michael Gaudreau Chuck Hyde & Randy D'Agostino Kevin Jackson Mary F. Morten & Willa J. Taylor Kevin Putz & Michael McNamara Steve Schmiedl & Wes Mason Marc Singer, Ph.D. & Michael Hora
The listings reflect contributions during the 2009 fiscal year. We apologize for any inadvertent omission in this report - we love all of our supporters.