Musk to move SpaceX and X headquarters out of California in protest of controversial law

Businessman Elon Musk has announced plans to move the headquarters of Space X and X, the two companies he runs, from California to Texas, in protest of a new school law in the western state.

In a series of posts on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, Musk noted that these changes were motivated by a new law in California, which prohibits schools from notifying parents if their children express that they want to change the gender with which they are identified in institutions.

“This is the straw that broke the camel’s back”, Musk wrote on the social network “Because of this law and many others that preceded it, which attack both families and businesses, SpaceX will move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.“, wrote.

In other posts, the tech mogul also said he was moving X from its headquarters in San Francisco to Austin, the capital of Texas, and directly criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom. Musk has already moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin.

“I warned the governor a year ago that laws like this would force families and businesses to leave California to protect their children.“Musk added.

The tycoon has also expressed his deep disdain for the use of neutral pronouns and often mocks the practice on social media by dismissing it as part of an agenda.woke” (progressive).

In the southern Texas town of Boca Chica, about 40 kilometers from the border city of Brownsville, Musk has slowly built a town called ‘Starbase’ to house workers on the Starship project, the largest rocket ever built.

Musk’s aerospace company StarX has purchased dozens of hectares of land in the area. In February this year, local media revealed that the company has plans to build office and manufacturing buildings in the area worth US$100 million.

The name Starbase came into widespread use after Musk announced in a 2021 message on X that he was creating a village for workers at the foot of his Starship’s launch pad.

Both the rocket launches and the construction of the town have raised alarm bells among environmental organizations and entities.

Newsom and his transgender law

On Monday, Gov. Newsom signed the law into law after a contentious legislative process. The law reverses decisions in conservative school districts that ordered teachers to notify parents if a student changed his or her name or asked to use facilities or participate in programs that did not match his or her official gender.

Newsom, who is seen as a potential alternative to President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for the White House, has been involved in heated exchanges with conservatives over gender issues in the state’s schools.

Last year, he signed a series of laws that impose fines on school districts that ban textbooks featuring LGBTQ people or other marginalized groups.

With information from EFE and AFP