Darrin Phillip Gayles is the first openly gay black man to serve on the United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida. Gayles was nominated by President Barack Obama to the court on February 6, 2014, to a seat vacated by Judge Patricia A. Seitz. Gayles was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 17, 2014.
Gayles was born on December 16,
Gayles received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from Howard University. He received a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the George Washington University Law School. He began his career as an Assistant State Attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, he served as an Assistant District Counsel at the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. From 1999 to 2004, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. In 2004, Gayles became a judge, serving as a County Judge in Miami-Dade County within the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. From 2011 to 2014, he served as a Circuit Court Judge on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
On February 6, 2014, President Obama nominated Gayles to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, to the seat vacated by Judge Patricia A. Seitz, who took senior status on November 16, 2012. He received a hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on April 1, 2014. On May 8, 2014, his nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote.[6] On June 12, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for a motion to invoke cloture on the nomination. On June 16, 2014, the United States Senate voted 55–37 on the motion to invoke cloture. On June 17, 2014, the United States Senate voted 98–0 in favor of final confirmation, making Gayles the first openly gay African-American man to be confirmed as a United States federal judge. He received his judicial commission on June 19, 2014.
After serving in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for more than ten years, Gayles was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Court of the Eleventh Circuit in 2004 by Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida. In December 2010, former Republican Governor Charlie Crist appointed Gayles to serve on the Circuit Court to replace former Judge Ronald M. Friedman. Gayles was sworn in on April 8, 2011 and elected to be retained on the court in 2012, the term would have concluded in January 2019. Gayles served on the Circuit Court until his appointment to the federal court.
Gayles has been engaged in many of South Florida’s legal and civic communities. Presently, Gayles is on the Board of Directors for Spellman-Hoeveler American Inn of Court serving in this position since 2006. Gayles previously has been on Board of Directors for the Peter London Global Dance Theater serving in this position from 2010 to 2012. Gayles has also served as Board of Directors for the George Washington University Law School Alumni Association from 2008 to 2011 and the Advisory Board for Success for Kids, Inc.—South Florida from 2010 to 2011.
Gayles has also been the recipient of many awards including the League of Prosecutors’ 2014 Justice Award. Gayles has been recognized as one of South Florida’s Most Powerful Back Business Leaders of 2013 and the recipient of the George Washington University Black Alumni Association’s 2008 Making an Impact Award. Currently, Gayles lives in Miami Shores, Florida, with his life partner, Raymond Zayas.
*Information courtesy of Blackpast.org *