Elon Musk says he will move the headquarters for SpaceX and X from California to Texas after California passed a new law granting schoolchildren more freedom of gender identity.
Musk announced on Tuesday that SpaceX headquarters would move from Hawthorne, California to just outside Brownsville, Texas. In a follow-up message, Musk said X headquarters will move from San Francisco, California to Austin, Texas.
Musk cited a law signed on Monday as the "final straw" in forcing the relocation.
On Monday California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law that prevents school districts from making it a requirement for schools to notify parents when a student changes their gender identity or sexual orientation.
"I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children," Musk wrote in a followup message on X on Tuesday.
Musk has posted anti-transgender content on X and overseen regressive policies governing LGBTQ+ content on the platform. In 2023, one of the world’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy groups said the company, which at the time was still called Twitter, was the most dangerous platform for LGBTQ+ safety.
In 2023, the platform briefly removed regulations that prohibited the "misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals." The rules were reinstated less than a year later.
Electric vehicle company Tesla, of which Musk is CEO, moved from Palo Alto, California to Austin in 2021. At the time, Musk said California's steep housing prices were limiting the company's ability to expand.
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