WASHINGTON — Darrin P. Gayles, an openly gay member of the state judiciary, is among four judges nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the federal bench in the state.

Gayles has served as a circuit judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida since 2011 after spending seven years as a county judge. He works out of the Dade County Courthouse.

 Gayles served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida from 1999 to 2004, following two years as an assistant district counsel with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

He began his legal career as an assistant state attorney in the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, where he worked from 1993 to 1997.  Gayles received a law degree in 1993 from George Washington University Law School and a bachelor’s  in 1990 from Howard University. 

Obama has nominated him for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, along with Beth Bloom, who has also served as a circuit judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit since 2010. 

From 1995 to 2010, Bloom was a county judge and served as the associate administrative judge of the Criminal Division in 2010. 

Bloom worked at the Floyd Pearson Richman Greer Weil Brumbaugh & Russomanno law firm from 1988 to 1995,

handling civil litigation.  While in private practice, she also served as a traffic magistrate judge from 1992 to 1993. 

She received a law degree with honors from the University of Miami School of Law in 1988 and a bachelor’s degree in 1984 from the University of Florida. She received an associate’s degree in 1982 from Broward Community College.

The nominees also include Judge Carlos Eduardo Mendoza and attorney Paul G. Byron, whom Obama tapped for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, which includes Orlando.

The nominations are subject to U.S Senate confirmation. Getting nominated is no guarantee that any of the candidates will get the job, at least any time soon. One of Obama’s previous nominees for the Middle District, Judge Brian Davis, waited nearly two years before being confirmed last month.