{"id":386447,"date":"2026-07-04T23:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T23:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386447\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T23:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T23:27:09","slug":"santee-methodist-church-wins-light-of-pride-award-for-uplifting-lgbtq-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386447\/","title":{"rendered":"Santee Methodist church wins Light of Pride Award for uplifting LGBTQ+ voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Marchers hold signs and more at Santee\u2019s Pride walk on May 30, 2026. (File photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

The Rev. Jaime Pangman always attends the annual interfaith Light Up the Cathedral<\/a> ceremony during San Diego Pride Week<\/a>. As he watched the Light of Pride Award being bestowed, Pangman wondered how recipients took home awards like that.<\/p>\n

So, when the pastor for the Santee United Methodist Church learned that his own church had won the award<\/a>, he couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re doing anything all that special, but we\u2019re very grateful,\u201d Pangman said at this May\u2019s Santee Pride Walk and Festival<\/a>, which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community in East County with a walk, music, dancing and booths from local vendors and community organizations.<\/p>\n

\"Dozens<\/a>Participants at the Santee Pride walk show their support with their tees and Pride and trans flags. (File photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just people coming together and saying, \u2018Hey, we care,\u2019\u201d Pangman said. \u201cAnd so I think that\u2019s what they saw in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Light of Pride Award is given to a religious organization, community or individual for their role in affirming the LGBTQ+ faith community, according to San Diego Pride.<\/p>\n

Since 2021, the Santee United Methodist Church has been part of the Reconciling Ministries Network<\/a>, which seeks to welcome all LGBTQ+ people and support their inclusion<\/a> in the United Methodist denomination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The church hosted the first Santee Pride Walk that same year, becoming one of the most prominent displays of supporting LGBTQ+ in conservative-leaning East County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the recent Santee Pride Festival, Pangman said that it\u2019s important for people to go out and be more visible with their support in order to let LGBTQ+ people know that they are loved.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>People march and wave flags behind a banner for the Santee United Methodist Church\u2019s Pride walk on Saturday May 30, 2026. (File photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Brock Cavett, director of advocacy and programs at San Diego Pride, said that the Santee Pride Walk and Festival creates an opportunity for the community to come together in a place that really needs it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re being honored for their work in the community throughout the year, as well as for really leading the way and bringing pride to Santee,\u201d Cavett said.<\/p>\n

Allisyn Thomas, the interim dean at St. Paul\u2019s Episcopal Cathedral, where the Light Up the Cathedral service will be held on Wednesday, July 15, said that the Santee United Methodist Church does their work in a community where there might not be a lot of allies speaking on behalf of LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that they do this and they do it with passion and love is really brave,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marchers hold signs and more at Santee\u2019s Pride walk on May 30, 2026. (File photo by Adrian Childress\/Times…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2434,74,76,75,123137,4891],"class_list":["post-386447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-lgbtq","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-pride","tag-santee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}