Texas Democrats ‘dragged’ their police escorts to a Dallas gay bar amid redistricting battle

Texas Democrats put under round-the-clock police escort by Republicans to prevent them fleeing the state again, after they previously left to prevent the GOP redistricting, took ‘their’ state troopers to an unexpected place – a gay bar.

As reported by LGBTQ Nation, State representatives Terry Meza and Venton Jones brought their police escorts to the Rose Room, a gay bar in the Oak Lawn gayborhood of Dallas for a meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas.

Sharing a picture of the meeting inside the venue on X, journalist Scott Braddock wrote that the lawmakers had “dragged their DPS troopers to a gay bar in Dallas”.

In response, Todd Hill – the secretary of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas – replied the group is “always happy” to have Meza and Jones at their meetings, as well as their police escorts.

Hill added the group had hosted Hill also Democrat Julie Johnson and “her Capitol Hill police officer”, adding: “We appreciate everyone’s service.”

We are always happy to have Reps. Meza and @VentonJonesTX at meetings of @StonewallDalCo! We also hosted Congresswoman @juliejohnsonTX and her Capitol Hill police officer. We appreciate everyone’s service 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 #stonewallshowsup

— Todd Hill (@Yohi52) August 20, 2025

What is the Texas redistricting row and why did Democrats have a police escort?

Democrats in the Lone Star State having police escorts came after a row over redistricting legislation put forth by Republicans – which will likely give the GOP an edge in future elections – and saw blue lawmakers flee the state in order to halt its progress.

The redistricting map – backed by Donald Trump – gives Republicans an estimated five additional congressional seats and could unseat notable Democrat lawmaker Jasmine Crockett by moving the borders away from her home.

At the start of August, 57 Democrats flew to Illinois and New York and said they planned to stay out of Texas for about two weeks to stop the redistricting vote.

They fled to prevent the GOP having its 150 lawmaker quorum – a quorum being the minimum number of lawmakers needed to vote on an issue.

Criticism of the gerrymandering – or, manipulating constituency boundaries to support one political party – was described as a “power grab to silence voters”, with Crockett saying “democracy is hanging by a thread”.

“Ultimately, the history books will write kindly about us and, well, we’ll see what they write about the other side,” the Democrat, who has Texas’s 30th congressional district since 2023, said.

“Once we get the adults in the room to fix things, as Democrats typically do, then we can finally get some guard rails around our democracy and fix the system once and for all.”

At the time, Texas House of Representatives minority leader Gene Wu flew to Chicago and said: “We will not be complicit in the destruction of our own communities.”

Whilst fellow Democrat Chris Turner told CNN: “It is the right of legislators to deny quorum. As governor Abbott should know, we also have separation of powers in this country.

“The executive doesn’t get to remove lawmakers just because he doesn’t like how we choose to represent those who elected us.”

After returning to the state and the State Capitol in Austin, Dustin Burrows – the GOP speaker of the Texas House – refused to let the Democrats leave the chamber, locking the doors.

Writing about Burrows’ decision on X, Jones said: “So the Speaker of the Texas House has just elected to hold members hostage until, not flood relief is addressed, but until racist maps are voted on. Flood relief was never the mission. It was these maps.

“These maps can only be created by diluting the representation and voices of Black and Brown people. NOW law enforcement is continuing to be used against duly elected members force a vote.”

With Democrats forced to attend the vote, the new constituency map was approved in 88-52 vote, with Trump writing it was a “Big WIN for Great State of Texas!!!”

Following the legislation’s passage, the maps will go to the Senate where they are very like to be approved. It would then be signed into law by Texas governor Greg Abbott.