The nation’s wealthiest entrepreneur announced Tuesday he would relocate the headquarters for two of his companies from California to Texas.
Elon Musk wrote on the tech platform he purchased last fall that the California governor’s decision to sign legislation banning schools from informing parents of children’s sexual orientation or novel pronoun use was the “final straw” in the decision to leave.
“Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its [headquarters] from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk wrote. “And X [headquarters] will move to Austin.”
Musk added that he was frustrated with San Francisco’s steep decline, where X is currently headquartered, forcing employees to dodge “gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.”
The announcement of the relocation of Musks’ corporate headquarters drew the endorsement of trans icon and Fox News contributor Caitlyn Jenner.
“Strong move,” Jenner wrote on X. “The state is not the parent!”
On Monday, California became the first state to ban school rules from compelling teachers and administrators to disclose a student’s sexual orientation or newly claimed gender identity to parents. The new law signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom ignited an immediate lawsuit from a southern California school district already embroiled in state litigation over transgender parental notification protocols.
Musk, whose own son identifies as transgender, wrote on X, “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.”
“A lot of families and companies will move out of California because of this law,” Musk warned with another online post. “Who would want to risk the state taking away their kids?”
California Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher confirmed in an interview with The Federalist that many businesses have already left over the state’s “radicalism.”
“We’ve already seen a lot of businesses leaving California for states like Texas,” Gallagher said, emphasizing that overregulation and radical laws on crime and transgenderism have pushed residents out of state. “There’s going to more to come and it already has done damage to us. We lost a congressional seat because we’ve had so many people moving out of California.”
Last summer, one of Gallagher’s colleagues in the state assembly encouraged families to “flee” the state over Democrats’ cascade of legislation proposed to strip the rights of parents concerned about the proliferation of trans ideology in the classroom.
“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophy, I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting. I’ve changed my mind on that,” said Republican State Sen. Scott Wilk. “If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”
Wilk said he would be leaving himself after the completion of his legislative term.
Gallagher told The Federalist on Wednesday that “I think that there are Democrats who would say privately they’re concerned but they’ve been unwilling to say it publicly.”
Celebrity Fitness Trainer Jillian Michaels went viral on the “Sage Steele Podcast” last month talking about her move away from Los Angeles.
“I grew up here. I’m a woman. I’m a gay woman. My mom’s a Jew. My dad’s an Arab. I have a black kid. And believe it or not, my son is half Latin, even though he doesn’t look like it,” Michaels said. “I hold a million cards in your game of woke victimology poker. And when I leave California, maybe you’ve lost your f—ing mind. Just maybe! Like when you have me running from home, maybe it’s gone way too far.”
Michaels, who now lives in Florida, complained about new lawsrelated to crime, drugs, and adolescent transgenderism in particular. In 2022, the state became a “sanctuary” for trans-identifying youth who seek to attempt a gender change.
“If my son came to me and said, ‘Mom’ — or my daughter — ‘I think I’m trans.’ I’d say, ‘Okay, you know, like, you want to dress this way. You want me to call you whatever the heck you want … fine. Explore it. I love you. I’m cool, do you as long as we’re safe,'” she said. “But we’re not changing your body until it’s fully developed. I’m sorry. Conversation’s over. Can’t get a f—ing tattoo!”
“It’s madness,” Michaels added. “It’s madness to me. I could go on and on and on. And it’s madness.”
