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Historic Confirmation To Florida Court Darrin Gayles Confirmed To Be U.S. District Judge for Southern Florida June 17, 2014 Florida Why Courts Matter coalition Historic confirmation to Florida court

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel ruled that three anti-gay groups cannot intervene as parties in Pareto v. Ruvin, the lawsuit challenging Florida's same-sex marriage ban, finding they had no concrete legal interest. Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith praised the decision.

An open letter from Cathy Pareto to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi criticizes Bondi's comments defending the state's same-sex marriage ban as narrow-minded and wrong, arguing same-gender families are just as stable and that courts nationwide have found such bans indefensible.

"Marriage will give us the ultimate commitment to each other. We've taken every step that we can to commit ourselves to each other..."

This isn't the first time the NAACP has stepped out on principle for an issue that affects the lives of LGBT people. Nor is it the first time they will experience a predictable, orchestrated backlash. Those of us celebrating their decision to support marriage equality must now also step up on the organizations behalf.