Molly Pinta

Molly Pinta is a 17-year-old student activist and the co-founder of The Pinta Pride Project, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating, highlighting, and normalizing the LGBTQ community in the suburbs of Chicago in a family-friendly way. After coming out as bisexual at the age of eleven, she and her parents founded the charity to bring pride parades to their hometown. Since 2018, they have thrown over thirty pride events, including five parades for thousands of attendees, many of them families. Molly has served as Grand Marshal of the Chicago Pride Parade,  Youth Ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign, and the recipient of a listing in GLAAD's (Gay and Lesbian Alliance) 20 under 20 for 2021. She is also the author of an essay published in the Rebel Girls series, "Dear Rebel," in October 2023, and a featured student in "Rebel Girls Celebrate Pride," published in May 2023. Molly is an honor student at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, who spends her free time working at a local veterinary specialty center. She hopes to pursue her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.