Mario Lugo

Nothing Mario Lugo does is without purpose. His every word, action and outfit is executed with a specific goal in mind. “Everything I do is loud and proud,” said Lugo during the interview.

To understand just why Lugo lives with such purpose, his story will have to be heard from the beginning. “I came to Davis ‘straight’ and with a girlfriend. I really did love her because we had become so close, but it wasn’t going to work out as boyfriend and girlfriend. We broke up,” Lugo explained. In his second year Lugo started to hang around at the LGBT Resource Center and he met Ruben Gil. Gil introduced Lugo to Delta Lambda Phi, a national social fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men at UC Davis. “He talked it up and I loved it from day one,” Lugo said of how he became involved with Delta Lambda Phi.

Now, Lugo is Vice President of the UC Davis Xi Chapter and was in charge of hosting Davis is Burning, the philanthropic drag show put on during the Fall quarter. The event is a lip-sync and dance competition put on by the brothers and guest LGBT and drag performers. Audience members are invited to dress in drag and the event also includes a raffle. All proceeds from the raffle go to support the Trevor Project, the leading national organization dedicated to preventing crisis and suicide among LGBT and questioning LGBT youth.

Staying true to his commitment to a life of purpose, Lugo incorporated a marriage theme into the event in recognition of the progress that has been made in LGBT rights surrounding the events of Proposition 8. Lugo said of Davis is Burning and the other events Delta Lambda Phi hosts, “I don’t want to be the token gays. I want us to open people’s eyes, but not in a threatening way where we step on people’s toes. So, we [Delta Lambda Phi] do it in a fun and positive way. It’s a big celebration instead of a ‘give us our rights kind of thing.’”

Lugo’s other medium for his passion requires us to travel back to the beginning all over again. As a senior in high school, Lugo joined the mock trial team as a journalist simply because they needed one, even though he had never done any kind of journalistic writing before. He ended up winning in Ventura County and went on the state championship. “I had never written before, but after winning I kept it in the back of my mind,” Lugo said. His first year at UC Davis he was double majoring in Biology and English. English because of that memory he kept from competing with the mock trial team and Biology because “my family wanted me to be a doctor and I thought I wanted to be a doctor too. I had to be successful. It was important,” Lugo said.

Journalism won Lugo over in the end and he has been a columnist and feature writer for the California Aggie ever since. In his first year, his columns focused on anecdotal relationship and dating advice. In his second year, he wrote about sex tips and advice, as well as research in the topic. “I tried to keep it funny, light-hearted and sassy. I love women’s magazines. The glamour and sparkle. I wanted to write for that audience and in that style” Lugo said of his columns. When I asked him about his dream job and plans after UC Davis, he spoke of graduate school for journalism at Stanford, Berkley or USC and of his ultimate goal- some day writing for Vogue.

The topic got even more serious when I asked him if he thought he could use his writing to educate people about LGBT rights. He told me about a piece he had recently written for a class about the Trevor Project and about his personal experiences of coming out. “It opened my eyes to what I can do with my journalism besides fluff pieces, so maybe. I learned so much writing about the Trevor Project talking to different people. I could have a bigger impact with my words,” said Lugo.

Mario Lugo makes it look easy to live with such passion and purpose. After his final words, I was able to understand why. “No one is perfect, but if I’m open and accept others as friends, prejudice vanishes. It can open their eyes to other kinds of people and see them as just that — a person, a friend, and not a stereotype.” Embracing others and putting out a positive image is just who he is.