ABOVE: Mayoral candidates Ken Welch (L) and Robert Blackmon. Photos via each campaign.
ST. PETERSBURG | Mayoral candidates Robert Blackmon and Ken Welch are each affirming they will support the city’s LGBTQ community ahead of the Nov. 2 general election.
Blackmon, a Republican, is a first-term city councilmember whose resignation from the post takes effect Jan. 6, 2022. Welch, a Democrat, is a former Pinellas County commissioner who served in the role for five terms.
Each candidate bested six others in the city’s nonpartisan primary election Aug. 24, falling short of the more than 50% required to win the race outright. Welch received 39.40% of the vote while Blackmon received 28.27%.
Welch was endorsed by a number of LGBTQ advocates and organizations ahead of the primary, including the statewide LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, its local chapter the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County and current St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. In the general election he has been endorsed by Equality Florida Action PAC, the political arm of the state’s largest LGBTQ-focused organization.
Each has cited his tenure on the county commission among their reasons, where he led high-profile, LGBTQ-focused initiatives.
Welch’s efforts included amending the county’s Human Rights Ordinance to include sexual orientation in 2008. He also reintroduced the measure five years later to add protections for gender identity. Those protections inspired action from leaders in St. Petersburg, including the term-limited Kriseman.
Under his tenure as mayor, the city has received a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipal Equality Index since 2014. The score measures how inclusive a municipality’s laws, policies and services are for LGBTQ people who live and work there.
Watermark asked each candidate five questions ahead of the election, four of which were the same and one which differed to address concerns LGBTQ voters have expressed.
The Q&A began with the city’s MEI, specifically if their administration will work to continue the city’s perfect score and if their administration will continue to work with LGBTQ liaisons. The positions earn the city points in the MEI.
Third, Watermark addressed concerns LGBTQ voters have expressed about each candidate. Earlier this month, regional media from the early 2000s in which Welch is tied to a church with anti-LGBTQ views resurfaced, also highlighting a vote against LGBTQ-focused marketing in Pinellas County. In August, an anti-LGBTQ social media post made by Blackmon from the same era also made headlines. It resurfaced with screenshots of posts disparaging Asians, women and the real estate manager’s tenants.
Next, Watermark addressed Florida’s Republican-led legislature, which earlier this year passed the state’s first explicitly anti-LGBTQ bill since 1997. Finally, Welch and Blackmon were given the opportunity to offer additional thoughts they would like to share with LGBTQ voters.
You can read the full Q&A with each candidate below, the content of which is unedited.
WATERMARK: St. Petersburg has received a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipal Equality Index since 2014. Will your administration seek to continue that trend and why or why not?
WELCH: Absolutely – Mayor Kriseman has set a standard for inclusion and equity in St. Petersburg government, and I will seek to continually improve our process and policies in that regard.
BLACKMON: Yes. As a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community I have always known that our diversity is both a point of pride and a great strength. It is critical that we maintain our reputation as a vibrant, inclusive and welcoming community. As I said at Council during this year’s reading of the Trans Day of Visibility Proclamation, “we are not a tolerant city, we are a city that CELEBRATES all members of our community. The word ‘tolerant’ doesn’t go far enough.”
St. Petersburg has an LGBTQ liaison for the mayor’s office and police department. Do you feel these positions are important and should continue?
WELCH: This is important and comports with my governing principles of Intentional Equity and In-Touch leadership. They will continue and expand based on our assessment of our policies, processes and community engagement.
BLACKMON: Yes, I do. Having a liaison for city government ensures that issues surrounding DEI are at the center of public policy. Jim Nixon and Lieutenant Markus Hughes have done outstanding jobs building a bridge to the community and I will be excited to have them continue.
On that note, I will expand the role of LGBTQ “liaison” positions to other departments. For instance, our economic development team and our development administration team should have LGBTQ liaisons within to help with pro-LGBTQ business redevelopment and job creation. Since we are already a city that is so well established as a welcoming community, its only natural that we would try to recruit others that are in line with our beliefs and values.
Mr. Welch, in the early 2000s, regional media wrote about your ties to a church with anti-LGBTQ views, a vote against LGBTQ marketing and concerns you had about transgender members of the community. What message do you have for LGBTQ voters who may be hesitant to support you because of this?
WELCH: I am an unapologetic ally of the LGBTQ community. Twenty years ago, I was not the strong ally that I am today, but I never came from a position of hate or mockery, as some have. I listened, I learned, I developed relationships with members of the LGBTQ community and I have effectively led impactful policies for equality and inclusion countywide. In fact, there has
been no stronger advocate for the LGBTQ community in local government in Pinellas.Working with my LGBTQ brothers and sisters, I led the effort to add inclusive protections for the LGBTQ community to the county Human Rights Ordinance in 2007, and supported the county assuming enforcement after St Petersburg ceased to do so. As Commission Chair in 2013, I led the effort to add protection from discrimination based on gender identity. I also successfully initiated the countywide adoption of a Domestic Partnership Registry in my first meeting as Chair in 2013.
I would ask those who are hesitant to judge me on my status as a strong ally and our impactful collaboration over more than a decade, not on where that journey began early in my elected service. Progress is the key, and I’m proud to be a leader in the progress that we’ve made for equity and inclusion for the LGBTQ community in Pinellas.
Mr. Blackmon, regional media has covered screenshots of social media posts you appear to have made in the early 2000s that contain anti-LGBTQ, racist and other derogatory content. What message do you have for LGBTQ voters who may be hesitant to support you because of this, or because you are a registered Republican?
BLACKMON: I’ve addressed my social media usage as a college student before; I regret the comments attributed to me and they don’t represent who I am. I have been fortunate to have many great LGBTQ people as a part of my life and to have learned and grown from their stories. I have a long record of attendance at Pride, many LGBTQ events and businesses, and the annual Trans Day of Remembrance, among other events. I have been an ally in both my public and private life, and will continue to be one if I am elected Mayor.
I also distinguish between misguided words posted on social media and the very real words, and actions, of elected officials like Commissioner Welch, who has a long and troubling history of ambivalence towards the LGBTQ community. I have been made aware of comments of his shared on social media. Commissioner Welch was older than I am now when he identified himself as a member of the “Christian right” who contrasts support for gay rights with being “pro-family,” and he specifically cited the mid-90s Republican Party’s anti-gay rights platform as his reason for affiliating with them. While in office, his sole dissenting votes on campaigns aimed specifically to promote Pinellas County as a place welcoming for the LGBTQ community were misguided, and he used his power as an elected official to fight against LGBTQ rights. His belief that transgender citizens “cross the line between public and private” is misguided, antiquated and just plain wrong. These ideals are not in line with the St. Petersburg of today, and have no place in elected office, or even in public discourse.
As for party ID, between the two of us, Commissioner Welch is the only one who has run for office as a Republican. I reject the notion that a party ID should either automatically call into question a person’s commitment to equality – or insulate them from having to justify their own past actions as an elected official.
Florida’s Republican-led Legislature passed its first explicitly anti-LGBTQ bill since 1997 this year. As mayor, how would you work to protect members of the LGBTQ community in St. Petersburg?
WELCH: I will be intentional about continuing the great work of Mayor Kriseman and foster a city where everyone has a seat at the table. As I indicated to the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County earlier in my campaign, I also support requiring that all reporting jurisdictions be mandated to separately report gender identity and expression motivated crimes. I’ll advocate for improved and more comprehensive hate crime legislation that includes bullying based on perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. I also support requiring law enforcement administrators to explain how hate crime statistics are gathered and reported.
BLACKMON: As Mayor, I will ensure St. Petersburg is a city that is open and welcoming to all. I do not and will not support any measures that discriminate between citizens based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
What else should LGBTQ voters know about you?
WELCH: I have been at the forefront of legislative protections for the LGBTQ community in Pinellas for more than a decade – leading the adoption of protections in the countywide Human Rights Ordinance. I’m supported by many in the LGBTQ community who I’ve worked with to make those changes happen. I’m also honored to be endorsed by many elected LGBTQ leaders, including State Representative Michele Rayner-Goolsby, current St. Petersburg City Councilmembers Amy Foster and Darden Rice, and former Council Member Steve Kornell. I’m also proud to be endorsed by Equality Florida, the Florida Democratic LGBTQ Caucu, and Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County.
BLACKMON: LGBTQ voters should know that in me they have a friend and an ally. I am from a new, younger generation – like most people my age I see LGBTQ rights as totally non-negotiable. I have been proud to be welcomed by the LGBTQ community, to march in Pride, and to be a small part of supporting LGBTQ rights in our city. I see anti-LGBTQ positions as an embarrassing relic of time gone by. I have never opposed LGBTQ rights, either from conviction or for political expediency, and I am the only candidate in the Mayoral race who can say that.
St. Petersburg’s general election will be held Nov. 2. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 23. For more information about each candidate, visit KenWelch.com and Blackmon4StPete.com.
