La Mesa Vice Mayor Lauren Cazares honored by LGBTQ Caucus in Sacramento

La Mesa Vice Mayor Lauren Cazares was in Sacramento Monday in a full-circle moment to be honored for her work as both La Mesa’s first openly LGBTQ+ council member and as the associate director of political affairs for Equality California.

“My political career really began on the Senate floor,” Cazares said.

Her family visited Sacramento for the first time when she was 17 years old. There, they met Heather Koszka, a staffer for La Mesa’s then-Senator Joel Anderson.

Koszka brought Cazares and her sister to the Senate floor. 

“Heather saw something in me and gave me her card and set me up with an interview to become an intern,” Cazares recalled.

At the time, Cazares was still struggling with her queer identity, closeted and suicidal.

Eleven years later she returned to the Senate, this time with her partner Hannah joining her family in support during the annual Pride Month celebration put on by the LGBTQ Caucus. 

“It was really special to be back and be out of the closet and fully myself, and just be recognized and honored on that floor where my career began,” Cazares said.

Each of the 15 LGBTQ Caucus members honor one LGBTQ+ person in ceremonies on the Assembly and Senate floors, followed by a rally featuring Dykes on Bikes. Senator Steve Padilla, who represents a neighboring district not covering La Mesa, nominated Cazares as his honoree this year. 

“Lauren is (a) leader with compassion, vision and serves as an example for the LGBTQ+ community. She’s a fierce advocate, advancing civil rights policy at the local, statewide and national level, and has broken barriers as the first and only openly LGBTQ+ municipal-level elected official in Eastern San Diego County,” Padilla said in a statement.

“Her voice and her vision are invaluable tools as we shape a more equitable future in California, and why she is so deserving of this recognition.”

Cazares said she was excited to be escorted down the chamber aisles by other Latino LGBTQ+ leaders, including ones she looks up to like Padilla and Sen. Sabrina Cervantes.

Cazares said that she is immensely privileged to represent her communities — and that it also took an immense amount of courage to get there.

At 27, Cazares is La Mesa’s youngest city council member by two decades, adding on to the personal criticisms and threats she faced as a Mexican-American lesbian running for office. Since her election, those personal attacks have mostly faded. Cazares believes that is because people have come to respect her leadership ability, even when they don’t agree with her.

“I think getting to see me in action on the City Council has really broken down a lot of those barriers,” she said.

Cazares’ election has come to represent the slowly growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in La Mesa and East County.

“I think it’s really important that I lead by example, and that I show that La Mesa is a safe and welcoming community for the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.

In addition to her efforts to elect LGBTQ+ people across California by managing endorsements and PAC spending at Equality California, Cazares is involved in the San Diego County Democratic Party and San Diego Democrats for Equality.

No matter what role she is in, the commonality is that she shows up as herself.

“I might not be the most scripted politician, I might not necessarily always wear what people want a politician to wear,” Cazares said. “But I am always 100% myself, and for that I am so proud and so grateful.”