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Elon Musk announced Tuesday that he will move the headquarters of both SpaceX and X from California to Texas, citing a new law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom that prohibits school districts from requiring parental notification of a child’s gender identification change.
“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 posted on X. He later added that X HQ will also relocate from San Francisco to Austin.
“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,” he added.
In 2022, People magazine reported that Musk’s then 18-year-old daughter was granted permission to legally change her name and gender to Vivian Jenna Wilson, adopting her mother’s maiden name. Musk has previously attributed his estranged daughter’s decision to the influence of “neo-Marxists” at educational institutions.
Musk has also recently endorsed former President Donald Trump and reportedly plans to contribute $45 million per month to a pro-Trump super PAC called the America PAC. Trump is expected to roll back transgender rights if re-elected.
Trump’s proposals, according to a February 2023 campaign video, include terminating Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, charging teachers with sex discrimination for affirming students’ gender identities, and ordering federal agencies to cease programs promoting the concept of sex and gender transition.
Major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the World Health Organization, support giving transgender adolescents access to necessary healthcare.
Governor Newsom responded to Musk’s announcement on X, saying, “You bent the knee,” and including a screenshot of a 2022 post on Truth Social where Trump had criticized Musk.
In the 2022 post, Trump claimed that Musk had asked him for help with subsidized projects, including electric and driverless cars and rocketships, suggesting that without these subsidies, Musk would be “worthless.”
This move follows Musk’s decision in 2021 to relocate Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, although Tesla retained its Palo Alto office as an “engineering headquarters” and expanded it, hosting a press event there with Newsom in February 2023.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for further information on whether the company would shut down its Hawthorne operations.