ABOVE: Pasco Pride President Nina Borders (4th from L) and the Pride board attend a New Port Richey City Council meeting June 18. (Photo courtesy Nina Borders.)
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. | Pasco Pride has adopted a one-mile stretch of Moon Lake Road via Pasco County’s Adopt-a-Road program, a section previously claimed by the white supremacist hate group the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1993.
Pasco Pride exists to connect, build and strengthen the LGBTQ community in and around Pasco County. Now in its second year, the organization was seeking community outreach projects to raise awareness for its mission when it discovered Keep Pasco Beautiful. The not-for-profit environmental organization promotes the county’s Adopt-a-Road program to “reduce litter, promote waste reduction and encourage beautification.”
The program was implemented by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. It requires a two-year commitment and promotes a clean community by requiring a minimum of four roadside clean-ups per year.The county provides Adopt-a-Road signs at the beginning and end of the adopted roadway sections bearing the adoptive organization’s name in exchange for their efforts.
Pasco Pride President Nina Borders says the program was a perfect fit. “We were looking at how we could make an impact with our limited resources, because this is year two and we don’t necessarily have the resources that larger Prides do,” she says. “A lot of our members live around Moon Lake Road and according to the people there, there’s a large trash problem. The roads there have been neglected and we want to have a large impact.”
Borders, who moved to Pasco County from Orlando four years ago with her wife, wasn’t aware the KKK had previously claimed the road until announcing the venture. “We knew they had been present in the area, along with a lot of white nationalist groups, but we didn’t know they had legally adopted the road,” she says. “I didn’t think a hate group could do that, but apparently in the 90s it was a thing.”
According to news archives, then-Pasco Utility Projects Director Bob Sigmond said in 1993 that the group was entitled to program participation despite the objection of some locals. Signs read “Adopt-a-Road, Pasco County: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” for years.
“Eventually the county got too much pushback,” Borders says, “and now here we are. The community has been very supportive of our efforts and it’s been amazing. We didn’t know what to expect when we announced this … we’re going to push forward because it’s the right thing to do.”
In addition to cleaning up the roadside, Borders says Pasco Pride plans to help the area’s homeless. “There’s a large population of people who live in the woods or off the road in the area,” she says. “We’ll have water and we’ll have food—we’re going to try and help out in a lot of different ways.”
Pasco Pride is currently seeking volunteers to assist them in their cleanup efforts. In conjunction with Keep Pasco Beautiful, the group will hold safety training at ZenfiniTea in New Port Richey on July 10. Eager environmentalists are required to attend the meeting or receive the training to participate.
“As we’ve moved into year two, we have been focused on building a strong foundation so that we can continue to serve the community,” Borders says. “Pasco Pride is taking over a road in the area that has a long history of white nationalism and hate. This goes to the heart of that—we’re here to show people that we’re all about love. Join us.”
Pasco Pride’s Safety Training will be held July 10 from 5-6 p.m. at ZenfiniTea, located at 3501 Universal Plaza in New Port Richey. For more information about the meeting or Pasco Pride, visit the Facebook event page or PascoPrideFestival.org.
