Chelsea Del Rio, a member of the LGBT community, is grateful she has not been a victim of a hate crime.

The graduate student attributes this to living in a more gay-friendly community than others, but she doesn’t think that now is a time for gay people to be complacent with so many pressing issues facing them.

For example, if the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, same-sex marriages would be banned. That was one of the many issues that students, both gay and straight, talked about at a discussion held in the PRIDE Center at Lassen Hall last Monday. Dozens of students were crowded in an event titled “The Politics and Memory of Gay and Lesbian Identity” to discuss the history and progress of gays involved in politics.

There was sentiment expressed by event speakers that the community intends to grow in terms of political influence and numbers of supporters because there is still plenty more work to be done and laws to be passed. Meanwhile, proponents of the traditional family lifestyle say that not only are there plenty of gay rights activists in the political arena, but their numbers and influence are growing too.

Anthony Pugno is a Folsom attorney who served as Kenneth Starr’s co-counsel on the Prop. 8 case in the state Supreme Court last week. “Gays and lesbians have increasingly obtained positions of elective office, judicial office, and industry leadership. They have become one of the strongest special interest groups in the state,” Pugno said.

Even though gay people live in a more tolerant society than 20, or even just 10 years ago, Del Rio thinks many members of the community need to flex more muscle in the political arena. She says that even though marriage isn’t an issue on her mind or immediately affecting her life, that doesn’t excuse her from not doing her part as a gay rights activist to help influence politicians and the public. “I think this election really affected the gay community in a lot of ways; people don’t realize there are very real ways in which people are willing to discriminate?people voted to take rights away from people because of who they have a relationship with.”

Del Rio hopes more people will become involved in the gay rights movement and said that pumping up the younger generation has been harder. Kyle Myers is an openly gay student who agrees with Del Rio, but thinks that young people don’t need to be encouraged necessarily because the world they live in is far more accepting.

“We have a lot of room for success in the future, especially considering that younger people are growing up with a more positive outlook on being gay?now we’re wanting our rights to be married and be recognized in a respectful manner in the eyes of the law,” Myers said.

Pugno says that politicians representing the LGBT community have focused for too long on progressing gay rights and thinks the Prop 8 trial is a reflection of citizens reconsidering their stance on supporting them.

“As they push?to start taking away the rights of others who do not want to endorse LGBT issues?moderate Californians will begin to scrutinize the aggressiveness of the gay agenda.”

It’s a push that Del Rio thinks needs to happen.

“There needs to be a change in the way people perceive the gay community, so people don’t have fear about being who they are?but I think that ultimately we’re progressing in a direction towards more equality,” Del Rio said.

Michael DePrimo of the American Family Association, a group that promotes traditional marriage, agrees that gays have more rights now than before, but feels that they have taken advantage of the system by fighting for the passing of hate crime laws that he sees as useless and discriminatory.

“We believe that hate crime laws are improper, we say that hate crime laws are improper all together,” DePrimo said

Del Rio thinks hate crimes are necessary and a worthwhile issue: “I think we need to be aware of the hatred that exists towards people because of a certain characteristic?and making sure that people realize that they cannot commit those types of crimes?is a big part of creating equality.”

Pugno argues that some members of the gay community don’t even want to push for equality in the area of marriage.

“One area I foresee as being very interesting is the raging debate?over whether or not it is wise to be seeking the re-definition of marriage. Many in the LGBT community do not support this, and many fear that pushing this agenda will harm other, more meaningful initiatives…”

One initiative example Pugno gave was workplace discrimination laws being hurt by pushing for same-sex marriage, though he did not explain how.

It’s a sentiment that is shared by some in the gay community, but one that Myers said Pugno has oversimplified. Myers said that he supports he supports same-sex marriage, but he doesn’t think that what happens in California with the Prop 8 verdict won’t matter until same-sex marriages are legally recognized in every state.

“I’m not really paying too much attention to Prop 8. That’s just here in California. I will pay attention to it when it’s an issue federally,” Pugno said.

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected].