ABOVE: St. Petersburg City Councilmember Robert Blackmon. Photo via Blackmon’s Facebook page.
ST. PETERSBURG | An anti-LGBTQ social media post apparently made by mayoral candidate and City Councilmember Robert Blackmon resurfaced Aug. 11, the latest derogatory screenshot to do so.
Blackmon represents St. Petersburg’s District 1. The first-term councilmember was elected in Nov. 2019 and submitted his resignation in May effective Jan. 6, 2022, shortly before announcing his run for mayor. Florida is a resign-to-run state.
In the post dated Oct. 6, 2007, Blackmon allegedly wrote that “fsu f***in rules and that game was sick after that homo delay stopped.” You can view it below, with uncensored language:
The screenshot isn’t the first to make its rounds across social media. In recent weeks, screenshots of posts disparaging Asians, women and tenants – Blackmon is the manager of commercial real estate units in St. Petersburg – drew widespread condemnation.
In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, the Republican advised he did not know if the posts were “accurate” and called them “inappropriate, shameful and embarrassing.” He also noted that they “do not reflect who I am, what I stand for or who I will conduct myself as St. Petersburg’s next mayor.”
Blackmon has previously expressed support for the LGBTQ community, both as a candidate for city council and for mayor. He attended the June 1 flag raising at City Hall for Pride Month, sharing afterwards that “As Mayor, I will always support our LGBTQ+ community, just as they have always supported our city and helped transform us into the dynamic and welcoming community we have today.”
In his statement to the Tampa Bay Times, Blackmon also noted that the screenshots were “a sad, desperate attempt by my opponents who are unnerved by the recent poll numbers reflecting my momentum, and by a former candidate for City Council with an axe to grind.”
According to the outlet, the images were captured as opposition research by Blue Ticket Consulting’s Meagan Salisbury in 2019. Watermark independently verified that she conducted it for Scott Orsini, Blackmon’s political opponent in the city council race whose campaign she managed.
Salisbury ended her political ties with Orsini before he dropped out of the race after tweets of his own resurfaced that disparaged minorities, including the LGBTQ community. She currently serves as the campaign manager for City Councilmember Darden Rice, another mayoral candidate who could become St. Petersburg’s first openly LGBTQ mayor if elected.
Watermark reached out to Salisbury for comment and was referred to her response to the Tampa Bay Times. “Whatever Scott has done with them after, that’s his business,” she told the outlet.
Watermark was unable to verify that the screenshot with Blackmon’s use of the anti-LGBTQ slur was unaltered. The candidate’s statement to the Tampa Bay Times concluded by reminding “young people that whatever they post on social media today can hurt themselves and others decades later.”
Blackmon graduated high school in 2007, the same year the post containing the anti-LGBTQ slur was allegedly posted. As of press time, his campaign has not responded to Watermark’s multiple requests for comment.
Prominent LGBTQ advocates have largely been split in the St. Petersburg mayoral primary, divided between Rice and longtime LGBTQ ally Ken Welch, a former Pinellas County commissioner who is also running. Rice’s support for Blackmon in the 2019 city council race is among the reasons, a matter the candidate previously declined to comment on.
Following the public divide between Rice and Welch, Blackmon’s support in St. Petersburg has grown. In recent polls he surpasses Rice but trails Welch, whose campaign condemned Blackmon’s resurfaced post to Watermark.
“Blackmon’s recent homophobic rhetoric and behavior is not only dangerous for the continued inclusive progress of this great city – it stands firmly against the values engrained in the residents of St. Pete,” Welch’s campaign manager Stephanie Owens said. “Whether it was barstool banter or laughs in a locker room it has no place in City Hall and absolutely no place in the conversation for our next Mayor.
“Using age as a marker of his immaturity is not acceptable and frankly insulting to twenty-somethings everywhere,” she added.
Rice also condemned the post. “Whether it was fifteen years ago or today, this rhetoric is unacceptable for someone who is running for mayor of any city, but especially a city as welcoming and inclusive as St. Petersburg,” she shared.
If no mayoral candidate receives more than 50% of the vote on Aug. 24, the top two candidates will advance to the general election on Nov. 2.
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