Honorable Christine Kehoe
Christine Kehoe became San Diego County’s first openly LGBTQ elected official when she was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1993. She served as Council Member for District Three until 2000 when she was elected to the California State Assembly and to the California State Senate in 2004. During her time in the state legislature, she served as the Assembly Speaker pro Tempore, only the second woman to hold that title and she was the founding chair of the LGBT Legislative Caucus. She left elected office in 2012, having forged a path for LGBTQ elected officials. Since her election in 1993, San Diego’s 3rd City Council district has been consistently represented by an openly LGBTQ elected official.
In addition to her service as an elected official, Kehoe has a long history of activism and leadership in the community. She has served as coordinator of the 1986 campaign to defeat Proposition 84, the LaRouche AIDS discrimination ballot initiative; she was the volunteer coordinator of the AIDS Assistance Fund and the executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association. Kehoe was the editor of the weekly newspaper, The Gayzette, from 1984-1986.
Kehoe’s long history as a leader in our community is specific to San Diego Pride, as well. In 1989, after years of Pride turmoil, she helped to form the Pride 15/20 committee. Kehoe became a co-chair, along with Scott Fulkerson. Through responsible budgeting, accounting, and staffing, the organization finished the year with a $20,000 surplus. Together with the other members of the committee, Kehoe took Pride to a new level and laid the foundation for the organization we have today.
Christine Kehoe continues to be involved in the community, most recently and currently serving as co-chair of the Community Advisory Council for San Diego History Center’s LGBTQ+ San Diego: Stories of Struggles and Triumphs exhibit.
She is an ardent supporter of increased environmental protection for California’s natural resources in her appointed positions on the California Coastal Commission; the Parks Forward commission and the California Transportation Commission.
She lives in North Park with her spouse Julie Warren, artist and San Diego City College instructor.
San Diego Pride raises funds primarily through festival ticket and beverage sales, and through sponsorships, and exhibitor fees. These funds support San Diego Pride’s community philanthropy which has distributed more than $2.5 million in advancement of its mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally.
