LGBT Activist Judge Faces Felony Charges for Wrongfully Detaining AaDefense Attorney
4th February 2026
A Texas LGBT judge with a history of clashing with authorities over her activism has been arrested and charged after she allegedly handcuffed and held a defense attorney captive in her jury box for the crime of arguing for the right to confer with her client during a probation hearing.
Bexar County Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez was indicted last week on a felony charge of unlawful restraint by a judicial officer and misdemeanor official oppression. The controversial judge was arrested for the 2024 incident, during which she and defense attorney Elizabeth Russell clashed in the courtroom.
Gonzalez has had run-ins with the law before. In 2022 she was was fined for bringing a loaded rainbow-painted gun through San Antonio International airport in her carry-on luggage. In 2019 shortly after she took the bench as the “first openly gay judge in Bexar County”, Gonzalez was sanctioned for pasting her courtroom, office and robes with gay pride flags in violation of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct. In 2023 the sanctions were lifted by a three judge panel.
Former staff members of the court report that the LGBT judge created a “hostile work environment”. Multiple former workers/partners with the Reflejo Court program accused Gonzales of increasingly erratic and aggressive behavior, primarily toward defendants/litigants in the courtroom. Others accused her of being “unstable” and prone to violent outbursts.
The judge is, however, considered a favorite of local prosecutors.