On Sunday, Texas Democrats denied House Republicans a quorum to approve a new Congressional map redrawn to add GOP seats to the slim majority Republicans hold in the U.S. House of Representatives.They did it by fleeing the state. Related Republicans are redistricting to get more seats in Congress. It could cost a lesbian her district. Rep. Julie Johnsons district will shift to the right if a proposed district map is adopted. While the Republicans gerrymandering power grab was top of mind for Texas Dems, another piece of legislation will also die without a vote if the lawmakers make good on their promise to stay absent from a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to push the redistricting plan through the Republican-dominated House.On Monday, Texas Senate Republicans passed a draconian new anti-trans bathroom bill through committee that provides a rigid penalty system for any facility that does not comply. A first offense would trigger a $5,000 fine, while subsequent violations would earn $25,000 fines for each infraction, the Dallas Observer reports. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Sponsors added S.B. 7 to the special session agenda at the request of Abbott, who called the discriminatory legislation a priority.If Democrats remain out of state for the next two weeks, the quorum break-up would last through the sessions expiration. That means that even if S.B. 7 passes the Senate, it would be dead on arrival in the Texas House of Representatives.Out state Sen. Venton Jones (D), who made news earlier this year when he proposed to his boyfriend on the Texas House floor, urged the public to testify against the bill regardless of its poor prospects in the Democrats absence, as he stood on a tarmac about to leave the state.Texas, its time to stand up against harmful legislation targeting the LGBTQ community, Jones posted to Instagram. S.B. 7 aims to erase transgender, non-binary, and intersex Texans from public life spaces. We encourage Texans to show up and testify against this bill, and to follow organizations like Equality Texas to stay informed and get involved in the defense of this special session. View this post on Instagram A post shared by State Representative Venton Jones (@ventonjonestx)Venton makes clear that at least for him, and it would seem to be the LGBTQ caucus as well, the quorum break was not only about ending the redistricting plan, but also cutting short these discriminatory bills like SB 7, said a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas.While the maneuver might have been about redistricting, I think the timing considered what other legislation was still on the table.Over 100 people signed up to testify for and against S.B. 7 at Mondays hearing.I was born female and I continue to identify as a woman, but I get mistaken for a man or a teenage boy when I go to the bathroom. I am who this bill claims to protect, but in execution, I will only be harmed, said Caroline Green, an Austin resident.While the extraordinary, mid-decade redistricting plan wont affect state lawmakers like Jones, it does put the seat of Texas only out member of Congress, Rep. Julie Johnson (D), in jeopardy.The new map would turn Johnsons district from 68% Democratic to 60% Republican,theDallas Voicereports. Texas 32nd Congressional Districtcurrently includes parts of Plano and Dallas. The new district would only include a portion of Dallas and more rural parts of eastern Texas. Johnson called the proposed map a disaster and a desperate move from a party losing its grip on a changing state.In 2021, when Johnson represented Dallas as a state representative, she and her Texas House Democratic colleagues fled the state in another walkout, denying Republicans a quorum, slowing down a right-wing, so-called voting rights bill from passage.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.