Warren Bloom previously ran for political office in 2019, but this marks the minister’s first time running for the top office in the City of Philadelphia. According to his website, Bloom will fight for issues such as strong public schools, fair and competitive wages, women’s health rights and better access to healthcare, the rights of private property owners and property renters, veterans’ health, public safety, equal rights for all groups, environmental excellence, criminal-justice excellence, spiritual excellence, and ministerial leadership for a better city.
PGN has reached out to all of the mayoral candidates for interviews and will be publishing them in the order in which they were completed. Bloom’s interview occurred on Jan. 24 and some responses have been edited for length or clarity.
What are the challenges facing Philadelphia’s LGBTQ community, and how will you address them?
Well, I think of course, safety, discrimination, harassment. In my first 100 days, I’m going to address concerns that’s probably going to be largely concerning to LGBTQ communities. And I’m very concerned about that because my family is very involved in LGBTQ concerns. And besides that, we’re dealing with public safety and also what I want to be doing is offering anyone who wants the opportunity to participate in Act 235, which gives people the opportunity to be certified to help out in community policing. That’s what that’s about. But that’s going to be a major concern of mine: the LGBTQ community and the generation that [needs protection] from bullying, harassment, job discrimination, and everything else that goes with that.
What LGBTQ community leaders and organizations have you worked with in the past?
[I’ve been] associated with William Way [LGBT Community Center]. I’ve worked with them. [I’ve worked with independent news platform Van Stone] for a number of years. And Kashim Turpin was one of the young men who I have had the opportunity to manage and help encourage. [He] was a kid who suffered a great deal coming up in middle school and in high school [for] being gay. And now of course, thank God, he’s a graduate. He’s working now with New York and Philadelphia schools in training other young people and in dealing with those community issues. But other than that, I just haven’t had an opportunity by and large to work with any communities because, of course, not being an elected official, I can only do so much, but in general, as a minister and a pastor, I continue to serve the greater Philadelphia community at large, like I’ve always been doing over the past 20 years.
In light of the numerous mass shootings, including at Club Q in Colorado and the many mass shootings in Philadelphia, what confluence, if at all, do you see between the issues of hate crimes and gun violence? And how does your approach to gun control address that?
[It’s about] retaliation in some way, form or another. This whole issue of retaliation is more broader than normally expected. In general, the violence, whether it’s against LGBTQ communities and just people in general in Philadelphia. I think it’s a spirit of retaliation. For instance, I have an extended family member who is now serving time. And he actually was convicted of murdering an LGBTQ member. And he put his family at risk. Because, well, thank God his family hasn’t received any retaliation. But I believe this. In other words, with the amount of gun violence we’re seeing across the board in Philadelphia, people are trying to retaliate against those other victims. And it’s more widespread than we imagined. And a lot of other people agree that yes, retaliation plays a big part in crime and violence amongst individuals in general. Anybody who’s been related to a person, a victim of violence, may want to seek to retaliate against the person who inflicted the violence initially.
So what do you think is the relationship between hate crimes and gun violence? And how does your approach to gun control address that?
[During a forum at St. Joseph’s University ], I addressed the issue of things that are ingrained in our culture. For instance, we’re raising a culture of violence. I talked about “Grand Theft Auto” , the number-one game in the world. And we almost have a generation of children that have grown up on that game, which is so riddled with violence. And some of the social scientists studied the fact that even though this is a game, how can [young kids] decipher the things they’re doing in the game and translate it to real life? Also, the music which is called drill music, which simply talks about killing groups, like artists like Lil Dirk, Chief Keef, and PnB Rock. These are artists that build out that garbage about gun violence. And too many young people are exposed to it. And I think all that stuff is deeply rooted in just our culture today by and large.
We have to stop it. [We want] to monitor what our children are doing, that they’re not dealing with games and dealing with excessive gun violence or something like that. But other than that, I just don’t know. I think it’s just ingrained in our culture in some way or another. I believe everything starts in the home. And I was, again, saying that society is simply made up of families. But when you compromise or corrupt a family, we corrupt society. And by and large, that’s what I think we’re seeing today, a breakdown of the family. And this is an attack against the family as we know it.
I want to bring more awareness to it. And I want to use my experience in media by launching a blitz, a public-service announcement that not only has positive and upbeat messages, but changes the literal atmosphere of the community through messaging. All of us have probably heard songs or music or things that you probably didn’t like. But if you hear something repetitively enough, it would affect you. Or you might find yourself singing that song or something, or replicating what you’re hearing. And I want to use my experience in the media to do public-service announcements that promote a positive atmosphere throughout the whole city. I believe in being on the love frequency. And that’s where I’m at, and keeping it up there and dealing with positive imagery. Tourism is probably the greatest asset we have. I want us to have a culture of bringing back the love and I would ask citizens from all parts of the city, from every age group and community to do public-service announcements that promote that theme.
How will you address the issue of violence against trans women, specifically trans women of color?
I want to make people aware that it should not be tolerated. We’re not going to tolerate it. I’m not going to tolerate it. I have friends who are transgender. Jesus taught [to be violent to] no man. And that’s what I preach and teach throughout Philadelphia as a minister. And I would just bring as much awareness to it as I can. And along with community policing, we will address these issues in taking back our community, and asking the judges to give stiffer fines and stiffer sentences to those who have taken advantage of certain communities, like the LGBTQ community, especially if they have been perpetrators of violence toward this community.
Why should the LGBTQ community give you their vote?
Because I’m going to be there for them. The Bible says “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” So legally, the LGBT community and other members have a right to be protected, legally, and to be protected from discrimination and violence. [Plus], the workforce and their health, housing, and other areas. And we want to do everything we can to uphold that law. And then I’m going to uphold God’s law by being a peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers, but they should be called the children of God. I think, with a lot of social experimentation on how to come and create a better society, it’s all about what we’re hearing. And I’m going to be asking all churches, regardless of their religion, or faiths, or denominations to also help in this matter, to offer support and counseling to not only victims, but to preach and to teach their congregations to be more sensitive to other members of our community. Everybody may not agree with somebody’s sexual orientation but they have to accept the fact that we’re all created equal and everybody should have a right to love whoever you want to. And especially, I want to offer protection to families and children who have single parents or parents that are LGBTQ.
For more information about Warren Bloom, visit votebloom4mayor.org.
