First Ever Openly Gay Man Appointed to Federal Bench

Today, the Senate confirmed J. Paul Oetken to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  He is the first openly gay man to be appointed to the federal bench.  He joins the Honorable Deborah Batts, who also serves the Southern District of New York, and who was the first openly gay Federal judge.  Judge Vaughn Walker, who presided over the Prop. 8 trial last year, came out publicly as gay after his retirement.  Oetken passed Senate muster fairly easily with bipartisan support.  There were only six no votes, all Republican.  They are as follows:

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jerry Moran (R-Ky.) James Risch (R-Idaho), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).