--- title: First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed description: The Obama appointee was approved unanimously by the Senate canonical: https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-18T00:36:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:28:28.743Z article:section: Politics og:title: First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed og:description: The Obama appointee was approved unanimously by the Senate og:url: https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed twitter:description: The Obama appointee was approved unanimously by the Senate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 18, 2014 12:36 AM UTC  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 18, 2014 12:36 AM UTC The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously [confirmed](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/17/us-usa-florida-judge-idUSKBN0ES2X220140617?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews) the first openly gay black man to the federal bench. Judge Darrin P. Gayles will serve the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a famously busy jurisdiction, Reuters reports. President Barack Obama appointed Gayles, a native of Peoria, Ill., to the federal bench after another openly gay black nominee was rejected last year due largely to the opposition of Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who said he had concerns about the judge’s sentences in a murder and drinking-and-driving case. The Senate also confirmed the federal bench’s second openly gay black woman, Judge Staci Michelle Yandle. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/17/us-usa-florida-judge-idUSKBN0ES2X220140617?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/"},"headline":"First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed","datePublished":"2014-06-18T00:36:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:28:28.743Z","description":"The Obama appointee was approved unanimously by the Senate","url":"https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/","keywords":["justice","Obama","Courts","Florida","Judge","gay","Black"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2892065/first-openly-gay-black-male-federal-judge-confirmed/","name":"First Openly Gay Black Male Federal Judge Confirmed"}}]}] ```