The Obama administration has left its mark on the United States Judicial system, appointing the country's first black, openly gay male judge to the federal bench.
Judge Darrin P. Gayles. who was confirmed 98-0, will serve the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a notoriously busy jurisdiction, Reuters reports.
The Senate also confirmed Judge Staci Michelle Yandle, an openly gay African-American woman, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. She is the first black lesbian federal judge in two decades and the second one in the nation's history. The first, Judge Deborah Batts, was sworn in during June 1994 under President Clinton.
"Obama has now appointed 10 openly lesbian and gay federal judges, 10 times the number of any of his predecessors," Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law school professor told the Huffington Post.
"Obama's shattering of records for diverse judicial appointments is of a piece with his other initiatives to promote inclusiveness, like this week's order banning sexual orientation discrimination in federal contracts."
Obama nominated Gayles after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., blocked a previous openly gay black nominee, Gayles' fellow Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas.
Presidential counsel Neil Eggleston called it "a historic day for our judiciary" in a blog post.
"These milestones are important not because these judges will consider cases differently, but because a judiciary that better resembles our nation instills even greater confidence in our justice system" and can serve as a future role model, Eggleston wrote.
Other members of the Obama administration are lauding the move, calling it "an important milestone."
"Never before in the course of the history of our state has there been an Article III federal judge who is openly a member of the LGBT community," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said ahead of Yandle's vote. "In short, Staci Yandle's confirmation marks another important milestone in America's journey toward equality of opportunity."
However, Rev. Stacy Swimp, founder of the Michigan based Revive Alive Missional Ministry, says the event reflects the anti-Christian nature of the current presidential administration.
"In Book of Judges, there was a major crisis of corruption and lawlessness among God's people. Idolatry and immorality prevailed without restraint," says Swimp.
"In his loving mercy, God raised up "judges"- men and women- who He filled with the Holy Spirit, to deliver the Children of Israel from the harsh consequences of their idolatry and immorality. President Barack Obama, rather than appoint judges who would protect our God given rights, our constitutional principles of limited government and our Judeo-Christian values, has appointed judges who are committed to giving license to idolatry and immorality. Obama seeks to promote unrestrained wickedness in our nation and to break the backbone of the family institution as we know it by empowering judges who will dismantle federal protection of traditional marriage."
Swimp warns that this placing those with blatantly immoral lifestyles in a position of authority within the judicial system is indicative of a serious downward moral spiral.
"Obama is-without a doubt-an enemy of God, country and family, as are the homosexual judges that he strategically places in federal courts to advance Satan's agenda to silence the gospel in our society."
