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Hello, La Mesa!
Happy Pride!
Our summer intern, Nicole Abrams, and photojournalist Adrian Childress were in Santee on Saturday for the annual Pride March and Festival. The event has become East County’s biggest, most visible celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
Being out and visibly different in East County isn’t always easy.
I’m comforted by the private messages, often on social media, from people I grew up with sharing support. Before Thanksgiving last year, a lesbian I was acquainted with in high school and at church messaged me saying how hard it was to be back in Jamul for the holidays, a hometown she loved, but no longer feels welcome because of her identity.
Her grief-tinged longing and nostalgia for our home is something I am familiar with. Both of us lost a lot of community, but also found each other and ourselves while away.
I’m thankful to be in La Mesa, where it feels safer to be out, while still being a part of East County, where I grew up.
The Pride Flag has flown at City Hall each June for five years. Capt. Katy Lynch shared that it’s been years since someone reported an anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime to the La Mesa Police Department.
Our profile is rising too, thanks to activists at the East County Queer Trans Coalition who live in La Mesa and our first openly LGBTQ+ council member, Lauren Cazares.
LGBTQ+ women are part of the business community too, at J-K’s Greek Cafe and Meet Cute, just to name two I’ve interviewed.
These queer women living in the open give me hope that others in East County will also feel safe enough to come out.
A correction from last week’s newsletter: Joel Anderson is not “our” as in La Mesa’s county supervisor, just the rest of East County’s. But also, looks like there may not be a special election, as Larry Cohen and Shirley Nakawatase are currently leading in the race to be the next Treasurer/Tax-Collector.
Also sad news: The last Reading Cinemas in San Diego County, located in Grossmont Center, permanently closed on Monday. It was one of the cheapest places to get movie tickets and came amid construction at the mall, as well as the Macy’s department store closure. Without the Santee drive-in, where do I go to the movies cheaply anymore??
Drew Sitton
La Mesa Courier newsletter host
La Mesa story spotlight
Santee Pride Walk & Festival gives LGBTQ+ community place to celebrate, feel safe
By Nicole Abrams • Times of San Diego
The Pride celebration began in 2021 as a church event and opened up to the community two years later. It was expanded to include the festival in 2024.
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