Edgartronic's transition

“Being able to DJ at this year’s Pride Festival is a surreal kind of homecoming. I get to come home and do what I love to do in front of my hometown crowd...but as my authentic self.”

DJ Edgartronic spun ’80s dance music for five years at the Air Conditioned Lounge, as well as the Whistle Stop, Landlord Jim’s, and all-ages dance club Static Lounge. “My biggest claim to fame was I got to DJ between bands at one of the 91X Wrex the Halls shows.”

After five years, the DJ who specializes in ’80s electro-pop is back in town to spin for the first time here as DJ Alexia Fuentes.

“I moved to the Bay Area for work. I was changing careers from developing websites to designing apps for iPhones.”

But the Sweetwater High grad who grew up in National City was also looking for a place to transition — away from those who knew him as Edgar Nuñez.

“It was something I struggled with my whole life. I wanted to transition in a way that wouldn’t make my friends feel uncomfortable. I didn’t know one person when I moved [to the Bay Area]. I got to reestablish my identity as I saw fit.”

Alexia says anyone considering the Big Switch should start with professional help.

“After six months of therapy I found the truth, that this is something I had to do. If you decide this is for you, that your life will make more sense, then do it. But you have to be absolutely sure.”

She started taking hormones last year. The process is now complete. “I got my name changed in March. Legally, I’m a woman.”

DJ Alexia specializes in extended 12-inch remixes of hits by Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. Although she wasn’t born until ’78, she says her aunts and uncles from Tijuana hipped her to the great ’80s dance hits.

I wonder if there is one song in her DJ quiver that best captures her life experience.

“‘True Faith,’ by New Order. The lyrics go, ‘When I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me. Now that we’ve grown up together, they’re afraid of what they see.”

DJ Alexia Fuentes appears at the San Diego Pride Festival on the Free Rainbow Stage, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday and on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m.