Tech billionaire Elon Musk announced Tuesday that he is moving the SpaceX headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, over a new law restricting schools from notifying parents about their child’s sexuality or gender identity.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1955 into law Tuesday to prohibit school districts from disclosing a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to the child’s parents without their consent. Musk called the passage of this legislation the “final straw,” accusing California of passing several laws “attacking both families and companies,” according to a statement on X.
“This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk said in the statement.
This is the final straw.
Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. https://t.co/cpWUDgBWFe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
Musk also announced X’s headquarters will move to Austin, Texas, as he is tired of “dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
Musk has prominently been a staunch opponent of sex change operations and hormone therapies for children, even calling on doctors and parents who allow for these surgeries to be performed to serve a life sentence in prison in an April 2023 post on X.
The X CEO previously said children getting sex change and hormonal procedures are being “fed propaganda by adults” in response to Democratic Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan’s call to allow sex changes for minors.
“Not when they’re fed propaganda by adults,” Musk said in March 2023 on X. “Moreover, every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes. Therefore, we shouldn’t allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”
SpaceX’s headquarters are the latest of many companies to flee California due to its policies. A growing number of companies have moved their headquarters out of California since 2018, with more than 265 headquarters fleeing the state with an average of 6.3 departures per month between 2018 and 2021, according to the Santa Clara Business Law Chronicle.
The state witnessed a stark drop in initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2022 as companies continued to leave the state, with about 44% of those departing companies moving to Texas, including Musk’s Tesla Inc. Major corporations and retail stores, including AT&T, Whole Foods and Banana Republic, have all shutdown stores in San Francisco due to the rampant crime rates that hit the city in 2023.
The California law is in contrast to the “Parental Rights in Education” law passed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2022, which bans discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. The legislation also requires teachers and school administrators to notify a child’s parents or guardians regarding any changes to their physical, mental or emotional health, with the exception of potential instances of child abuse.
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