Evidently, Florida's Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS prefers that his judicial appointees share in his ideological perversions. ROGER KARAM GANNAM, the Governor's latest Court of Appeals nominee, is a declared enemy of equal rights for LGBTQ+ people. So is Governor DeSANTIS. Dirty birds of a feather flock together.
ROGER KARAM GANNAM was one of Kim Davis's lawyers, the bigoted disgraced Kentucky clerk who refused Gay marriage licenses.
ROGER KARAM GANNAM is no Thurgood Marshall.
Quo vobis videtor? (Latin for How does it appear to you? Or "what do y'all reckon?")
You tell me.
From Florida Politics, August 11, 2023, by Jesse Scheckner:
Gov. DeSantis appoints anti-LGBTQ lawyer to appeals bench
Gov. Ron DeSantis has named an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ equality to the appeals bench of Central and Southwest Florida.
DeSantis appointed Apopka lawyer Roger Gannam to serve as judge on the 6th District Court of Appeal, which hears cases from Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Polk, Orange and Osceola counties.
For the better part of a decade, Gannam has made headlines for his legal battles against LGBTQ rights for the Liberty Counsel, an evangelical organization the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as an extremist hate group.
Gannam’s activities have included a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to same-sex marriage rights and opposition to Jacksonville’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
In a Florida Times Union guest column about the latter in 2015, Gannam argued enforcing equal legal protections of LGBTQ people is “discrimination against people of faith.”
“Sober and rational concerns for modesty, privacy and safety will be recategorized as discrimination under the new and far-from-settled concept of ‘gender identity,’” he wrote. “Boys will be allowed to enter girls’ dressing and shower areas, to expose themselves and view girls in all stages of undress. Domestic abuse shelters must allow biological men who present a female ‘identity’ to sleep in the women’s dormitories.”
“Most insidiously,” he continued, “male predators will use the legal cover of female ‘identity’ to gain unchallenged access to women-only bathrooms and dressing rooms.”
That passage came up this April in a South Florida Sun-Sentinel examination of 15 applicants, including Gannam, who vied for the Florida Supreme Court seat Justice Ricky Polston vacated. The Sentinel noted Gannam wrote “N/A,” not applicable, in response to a Judicial Nominating Committee question about whether he would be biased on an issue that might reach the court.
“That answer strikes us as elusive,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. “It’s also disqualifying.”
In May, DeSantis selected Judge Meredith Sasso of 6th District Court of Appeal to succeed Polston. That left a vacancy on the appeals bench Gannam will now fill.
Gannam holds a law degree from the University of Florida. Prior to joining the Liberty Counsel in August 2014, he was a partner at the Jacksonville law firm Lindell Farson & Zebouni, where for more than eight years he handled “a broad range of business and consumer litigation, as well as real estate and general business transactions,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jesse Scheckner
Jesse Scheckner has covered South Florida with a focus on Miami-Dade County since 2012. His work has been recognized by the Hearst Foundation, Society of Professional Journalists, Florida Society of News Editors, Florida MMA Awards and Miami New Times. Email him at Jesse@FloridaPolitics.com and follow him on Twitter @JesseScheckner.
From Orlando Sentinel:
DeSantis taps anti-LGBTQ+ Liberty Counsel lawyer for judgeship
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ judicial pick for an Orlando-area appellate court worked for a Christian legal group that has challenged discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community and defended a Kentucky clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples.
Roger Gannam joined the Maitland-based Liberty Counsel in 2014, a group with a mission of “restoring the culture by advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the family.”
Gannam will fill the judicial vacancy on the Sixth District Court of Appeal created when DeSantis elevated Judge Meredith Sasso to the Florida Supreme Court. The court’s jurisdiction includes Orange and Osceola counties.
The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the Liberty Counsel a hate group for its views on the LGBTQ+ community. The Liberty Counsel vigorously disputes that designation.
At the Liberty Counsel, Gannam worked on high-profile cases involving conflicts between LGBTQ+ and religious rights. He represented Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who defied a federal court order and said she could not sign same-sex marriage licenses “under God’s authority.”
He opposed Jacksonville’s human rights ordinance, which added sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s anti-discrimination laws.
In a 2015 guest column, Gannam wrote the ordinance would lead to discrimination against “people of faith” if they refuse “to endorse and promote someone else’s same-sex wedding” and took issue with provisions dealing with gender identity.
“Most insidiously, male predators will use the legal cover of female ‘identity’ to gain unchallenged access to women-only bathrooms and dressing rooms,” he wrote in the column that appeared in the Florida Times Union.
Equality Florida, the state’s gay rights advocacy group, slammed DeSantis’ pick in a statement, calling it a “slap in the face to anyone who believes in freedom and equality for all.”
“Ron DeSantis is using his power to transform the court with right-wing extremists who support his bigoted agenda,” said Carlos Guillermo Smith, Equality Florida’s senior policy adviser and a former state representative who is running for the Florida Senate.
Gannam’s work includes a legal challenge to bans on so-called conversion therapy, which seeks to convert LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality. He served on Liberty Counsel’s team that won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Boston for refusing to fly a Christian flag outside City Hall.
He could not be reached for comment Friday. During an interview in May with the Judicial Nominating Commission, Gannam said he would be impartial as a judge, despite his advocacy work.
“I look at all people as being created in God’s image,” he said. “They are all owed my impartiality. No one because of what they believe would find themselves any more or less valuable to me. … I’m committed to getting the law right. That’s true no matter who it is before me.”
Gannam also applied for the Supreme Court vacancy.
A graduate of the University of Florida’s law school, Gannam joined Liberty Counsel as senior litigation counsel in 2014 and became assistant vice president of Legal Affairs. Before joining Liberty Counsel, he was a partner at the Jacksonville law firm Lindell & Farson.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver praised the pick.
“Since 2014, Roger has been a vital member of Liberty Counsel’s legal team,” Staver said in a prepared statement. “Roger is committed to the rule of law.”
The Sixth District Court of Appeal could play a role in DeSantis’ legal battle with Disney if his tourism district’s state lawsuit against the entertainment giant is appealed.
Where do they get all these gumbys, Mike Lindells, and Alex Jones clown car occupants.
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