Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that he is relocating the headquarters of aerospace company SpaceX and social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to Texas, in protest against a law aimed at protecting transgender students that was enacted in California on Monday.
He stated that the legislation and others that preceded it led to his decision, and alleged that they are “attacking both families and companies.”
The bill, sanctioned by California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, aims to safeguard the rights of transgender students and combat discrimination.
It explicitly forbids school staff from revealing details about a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to anyone without the student’s prior consent. This prohibition also applies to the student’s parents.
Musk said he had made it clear to Governor Newsom a year ago that such laws would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.
Currently, SpaceX is headquartered in Hawthorne and X has its base in San Francisco. Both cities are in California.
Musk said SpaceX’s primary office will be shifting to Starbase, a SpaceX industrial complex located near Brownsville, at the far south-eastern end of Texas.
He said X would be relocated to Austin, which already hosts the headquarters of Tesla, moved from California in 2021.
Back then, Musk had said his decision to move had to do with California's laws and preventive measures against Covid-19 implemented by Governor Newsom.
