Metro Weekly

Pro-Trump attorney suspended after posting anti-gay, anti-Muslim comments on social media

Former Florida circuit judge candidate Donald McBath called homosexuality an "illness" and said gays face "eternal damnation"

Donald McBath – Photo: Facebook.

A former judicial candidate has had his license to practice law suspended for 91 days after the Florida Supreme Court determined that he had violated the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct for posting anti-gay and anti-Muslim screeds on social media.

Donald McBath, a retired attorney and Florida Bar member who lost to Doneene Loar in the nonpartisan primary for for Florida’s 6th Circuit Court in 2018, is one of 15 attorneys in the Sunshine State disciplined by the state’s high court this month. The list of such candidates only just became available, even though the court order suspending McBath’s license was issued on Nov. 27.

In its write-up of McBath’s suspension, the high court wrote that the lawyer “made written and oral statements concerning his political affiliations and his views of classes of parties and issues that were hate-filled, unprofessional and inappropriate.”

In a complaint filed against him by the Florida Bar, McBath was accused of violating the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct when he made comments on social media that “failed to maintain the dignity appropriate to judicial office and act in a manner that is consistent with impartiality, integrity, and independence of the judiciary,” reports The Miami Herald.

The complaint also accuses McBath of opining on certain classes of parties, cases, or issues that “are likely to come before the court,” making promises to rule in certain ways that betray his ability to be impartial in such cases, and of expressing stances on political issues, as well as touting his support for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

McBath responded to the 20-part complaint against him with the following statement: “1-20. ADMIT.”

McBath’s comments include Twitter posts in which he says to “never trust a Muslim” and “Muslims are deranged.”

He also tweeted: “If the homosexual continues committing that sin of sodomy, his soul faces ETERNAL damnation. Abstain, if you really have that mental illness. It’s not love.”

He also made comments calling an abortion doctor “satanic,” and, in another post, called liberals “very sick people” who “have no Judeo-Christian values.”

McBath is currently serving his 91-day suspension concurrently with a year’s suspension he received for what the Herald classifies as “incompetence and laziness” in a separate case.

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Comedy troupe behind “gay Jesus” Netflix special is fire-bombed by right-wing group

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