Elon Musk is moving both SpaceX and X headquarters from California to Texas due to the liberal state’s new gender identity laws.
The 52-year-old billionaire announced the big move on Tuesday, saying Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of a law banning California school districts from notifying parents if their child is transgender was “the last straw.”
“Because of this law and the many others that came before it, which attacked families and businesses alike, SpaceX will now move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas,” he said. wrote on X.
“I made it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and businesses to leave California to protect their children.”
Musk later added that the social media site would also move its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, saying he was “tired of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
Elon Musk, 52, announced Tuesday that he is moving Space X and X out of California in favor of the Lone Star state
He then suggested that “many will follow,” noting in a follow-up post that “Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone publicly endorsed Trump six weeks ago.
“Silicon Valley has changed,” Musk said.
The billionaire has already moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin after Alameda County officials refused to let him reopen the factory due to coronavirus restrictions, despite Newsom announcing that manufacturers would be allowed to restart operations.
About a year later, he made good on his promise, praising Texas’ lack of an income tax and the region’s abundance of housing, but he did announce that he would keep Tesla’s “engineering headquarters” in California.
Musk even moved to the Lone Star State in 2020 after living in California for 20 years. He was also in the process of moving SpaceX to Texas after speaking out against California’s liberal policies.
He called California Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to sign a controversial bill banning California school districts from notifying parents if their child is transgender as the “final straw.”
He opposed the use of preferred pronouns and often mocked the practice on social media, calling it part of a “woke” agenda that is dangerous to society.
Musk is the father of an estranged transgender daughter, whom he blames on her private school education in California, which has led her to become politically far-left and turn against him.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, however, has been on the other side and is often a champion of these woke ideals, even though he too has moved with his family from one of the state’s largest cities to an exclusive region.
On Monday, he introduced a law that would make it impossible for public school districts to require staff to notify parents when their children change the pronouns they use in class.
This reversed decisions by more conservative school districts that required teachers to notify parents if a student changed his or her name or pronouns, or requested to use facilities or participate in programs that did not match their official gender.
He said SpaceX will now move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas
Musk said he had previously spoken to California’s governor about his woke policy, warning it could force companies to leave the state
Democratic state officials who championed the bill argued that students have a right to privacy and that some LGBTQ+ students live in hostile homes and need protection from their own parents.
Trans activists also argued that such guidelines are vital because some children need protection from their old-fashioned parents who will not accept their wish to change gender.
Parents have since criticised the policy, telling DailyMail.com that the law would lead to more school districts implementing their own secret gender reassignment policies and mothers and fathers not being able to trust their teachers.
They say that they should be kept informed about their child’s gender identity.
“This is an ethically and legally alarming level five fire because it means parents are unable to access important information about their own child’s school performance,” said Erika Sanzi of the campaign group Parents Defending Education.
‘If a school facilitates the gender reassignment of a minor without informing the parents, this is a psychosocial intervention without parental consent.’
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is now moving from San Francisco to Austin
In announcing the decision, Musk said he was “tired of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
Some conservative California lawmakers also blame Newsom for the tech companies’ departure.
“Gavin Newsom’s anti-parent agenda isn’t just bad for families — now it’s doing serious damage to California’s economy,” said Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher told the Sacramento Bee.
“Given the highest unemployment rate in the country, you would think our governor would do everything he could to protect jobs.
“Instead, he is playing to the extremists in his party by excluding parents from their children’s education and ensuring that even more companies move to other states.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Newsom’s office for comment.
But in an attack on the billionaire on his own platform, the governor reposted former President Donald Trump’s 2022 Truth Social post bashing electric vehicles and Musk.
The former president claimed in the post that Musk visited him in the Oval Office and asked for his help “on all of his many funded projects” and told him he was “a huge Trump fan and Republican.”
“I could have said, ‘Get on your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump wrote at the time.
Newsom, though, wrote that the tycoon – who supported Trump for president – has since “bent the knee.”