Elon Musk plans to move SpaceX, X headquarters to Texas over new LGBTQ+ laws in California

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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