Santee kicks off Pride Month celebrations with annual walk and festival

Hannah Elsmore, The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 30, 2026

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SAN DIEGO — Hundreds of participants came together in Santee on Saturday for the city’s annual pride walk and festival, marking the first celebration of Pride Month in San Diego County.

An estimated crowd of more than 200 people gathered for the fifth annual event hosted by the Santee United Methodist Church, kicking off the celebration with a walk through nearby streets.

Attendees carried pride flags and wore shirts decorated with slogans, including “Protect Trans Youth” and “Love Wins,” as they walked a 2-mile loop that began and ended at the church parking lot, where the festival was held.

For the volunteer church group that organizes the annual LGBTQ+ celebration, the gathering is about bringing together community members, allies, nonprofits groups and volunteers with the shared goal of inclusivity and visibility.

“We decided we needed to do something different to show acceptance of everyone and that gave rise to the Pride Walk here,” said Linda Roach, a 50-year resident of Santee and a church organizing member who helped bring the event to the East County community.

That vision came to life during the festival that followed the walk; attendees danced to live music and children weaved through the crowd waving pride flags. Local vendors and nonprofit organizations and community groups lined surrounding tables, offering resources such as LGBTQ+ support groups and mental health services.

The city’s pride celebration was the result of a concentrated effort by community members, church volunteers and city leaders to “better communicate what Santee is all about,” Roach said.

Attendance has blossomed since the city’s first pride event, which she said only a few dozen people attended. The rise in attendance shows the community is becoming more welcoming and accepting, Roach said.

This year’s gathering included a performance from the San Diego Trans Chorus, a nonprofit group that performed at its first-ever pride event Saturday.

Noticing the absence of any chorus in the region created specifically for transgender singers, co-founders Lauren Gripenstraw and Rajitha Narreddy said they decided to create the group.

“There are some that are trans-inclusive but it’s not the same as having a group that’s just for us,” Gripenstraw said. “We are dealing with things, like changing voices, that many adult choirs are not necessarily used to dealing with.”

Pride events and groups like theirs share a common goal: creating affirming spaces where people are comfortable being themselves, Narreddy said.

“An event like this is definitely a step forward in changing the profile of Santee, as opposed to what it used to be,” Roach said.