After a two-year hiatus, Pasco Pride resurfaces in Land O'Lakes with a celebration of love, unity and advocacy

BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey
February 2022

“Pasco Pride is grounded in community advocacy. We know that especially in Pasco County we have to advocate for ourselves.”
Diana Shanks

As happens come festival day, Pasco Pride president Nina Borders was busy making sure everything was going according to plan and troubleshooting when it wasn’t. Tending to things like who was needing what and where, pivoting the entertainment line-up when one of the featured speakers was running late, and trying to deal peacefully, but firmly, with bully protestors verbally harassing attendees as they made their way in.

The handful of usual suspects come without fail it seems, equipped with bullhorns, body cams, and a self-proclaimed, angry righteousness aimed at disrupting what is meant to be a celebration of love, individualism, acceptance, and accountability too, for what happens next for the local LQBTQ+ community.

Pasco Pride In Photos

Click on the story below to see more photos from Pasco Pride held on Feb. 5, 2022, in Land O’Lakes.

In Photos | Pasco Pride 2022

“Frankly, they go to more Pride events than I do. What’s with that?”, Pasco Pride communications director Diana Shanks quipped from the stage while previewing the festival schedule for the audience and urging attendees not to engage.

Honestly, it’s hard not to, but then you end up taking your eyes off the purpose of Pride.

As with other local festivals, leaders held off on celebrating Pride for the last two years because of the pandemic

It was good to be back, Borders said, even with a cold spell and rain showers threatening to blow in later in the afternoon,

Launched in 2018 with a decidedly family-friendly theme this year’s, Pasco Pride featured mom hugs for all, giggling kids running through bubbles and fake snow, traditional sparkly and colorful drag show performances, and donation buckets to raise funds for the $1,500 Terra Winthrop Community Leadership Scholarship which the organization grants each year to a graduating LQBTQ+ Pasco County high school senior.

“Blue Dream” greets an enthusiastic audience member on stage at the 2022 Pasco Pride Fest held on Feb. 5 at Heritage Park in Land O’Lake PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

There were over 60 vendors including local service organizations such as Pasco Animal Hospital, NAMI Pasco (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and the African American Club of Pasco.

Representatives from Florida Health Department Pasco were offering free HIV, Hepatitis C and rapid COVID-19 testing. The Hillsborough League of Women’s Voters were on hand to share voting information, such as how and where to register to vote this year, how to make sure you can still get a mail-in ballot (check with your supervisor of elections), as well as their stand against certain legislation, such as House Bill 1557 and Senate Bill 1834, aka “Don’t Say Gay”, which is presently advancing through the Florida legislature.

FYI – The League of Women Voters of Florida opposes HB 1557 and SB 1834 AKA “Don’t Say Gay” PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

There were pet skunk and greyhound rescues in the house, artisans, a fair share of LQBTQ+ advocate organizations, tons of rainbow-themed attire, and a slate of inspirational speakers, some who shared personal stories.

Among them was Nathan Bruemmer, former president of St. Pete Pride and LGBTQ Consumer Advocate for the Office of Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, State Representative Michele Rayner-Goolsby who is the first openly gay black woman to be elected to the Florida legislature, and Nikole Parker who serves as the Director of Transgender Equality for Equality Florida.

She spoke about finding her tribe at her first Pride event as a 15-year-old teen, and also the fear of being a target of violence as a transgendered woman of color.

It’s no doubt a harsh and dangerous world for Parker and others as evidenced by recent statistics. According to a Nov. 2021 report by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the organization recorded 47 violent deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people – more than any year since they started tracking these acts of violence in 2013.

The 2022 event had a different look from the inaugural Pasco Pride Festival which offered a week-long celebration that took place at Sims Park and other venues in the New Port Richey area.

To better accommodate members living in central and east Pasco and Hillsborough County, Pasco Pride board members decided to move this year’s one-day festival to the more centrally located Heritage Park in Land O’Lakes, Borders said.

Heritage Park is also where Pasco Pride members play in an area softball league, Shanks said, so it’s a fun place to be.

Mr. V – Vyn Suazion (center) performs at the 2022 Pasco Pride Festival. Feb. 5, 2022.
Photo | Michele Miller

Even so, Pasco Pride is more than a fun event, because it has to be, said Shanks.

“Some PRIDE (organizations) focus is on the festival and the parties and that is important because we have to have safe shared spaces where we can celebrate together,” she said.

“Pasco Pride is grounded in community advocacy,” said Shanks, who was born and raised here and found places for people like her to be far and few between. “We know that especially in Pasco County we have to advocate for ourselves.”

And they do.

Pasco Pride was a vocal presence at county school board meetings concerning transgender bathroom policies. The organization has also sent delegations to confront legislative issues on the state and national levels to support LGBTQ+ rights. In 2020 members launched a Change.org petition to present to county commissioners to enact a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO) in Pasco to protect LGBTQ+ residents from discrimination.

“That, of course, failed,” Shanks said.

(Note: According to equalityflorida.org, 12 counties have passed Human Rights Ordinances. Pasco County is not one of them.)

Advocating includes supporting other marginalized groups, including people of color, Shanks said, noting that Pasco Pride president Nina Borders is a lesbian and is also black. “The core of our belief is that our organization is tied up with other people.”

In 2019 Pasco Pride joined the Adopt-a-Road program to clean up Moon Lake Road which was specifically chosen because of its proximity to a private road that had been previously adopted by a local branch of the Ku Klux Klan.

“This year we wanted to take it further,” she said adding that there was an intentional effort to hire people of color to work the festival and offer free vendor space groups to the Pasco County NAACP, the African American Club, and Black Lives Matter.

Pride Festivals have been essential in staking out a place that welcomes people from all walks of life, especially those who know all too well the sting of disenfranchisement and discrimination.

“Having these spaces that are just about joy and loving each other and celebrating each other is critical,” Shanks said. “Especially in a place like Pasco County.”