Microsoft, EA, And Gearbox Sign Letter Opposing Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill In Texas

Ear­ly last week, 65 companies–including gam­ing giants Microsoft, Elec­tron­ics Arts, and Gear­box Software–have signed a let­ter oppos­ing Tex­an Gov­er­nor Greg Abbot­t’s recent “anti-LGBTQ+ efforts.” Pub­lished in The Dal­las Morn­ing News, the let­ter calls for “pub­lic lead­ers in Texas and across the coun­try to aban­don their efforts to write dis­crim­i­na­tion into law and pol­i­cy.” The plea comes short­ly after the Texas gov­er­nor issued an order for child pro­tec­tive ser­vices to begin inves­ti­gat­ing the fam­i­lies of trans­gen­der chil­dren receiv­ing gen­der-affirm­ing health­care, stat­ing its child abuse.

Orga­nized by the LGBTQ orga­ni­za­tion the Human Rights Cam­paign, the let­ter starts with a sim­ple proclamation–“Discrimination is bad for business”–before elab­o­rat­ing on how Abbot­t’s poli­cies will impact Tex­an workers.

“The recent attempt to crim­i­nal­ize a par­ent for help­ing their trans­gen­der child access med­ical­ly nec­es­sary, age-appro­pri­ate health­care in the state of Texas goes against the val­ues of our com­pa­nies,” the let­ter states. “This pol­i­cy cre­ates fear for employ­ees and their fam­i­lies, espe­cial­ly those with trans­gen­der chil­dren, who might now be faced with choos­ing to pro­vide the best pos­si­ble med­ical care for their chil­dren but risk hav­ing those chil­dren removed by child pro­tec­tive ser­vices for doing so.”

Kotaku point­ed out that many of the tech and gam­ing com­pa­nies who signed this open let­ter, are mem­bers of Texas Com­petes, a pro-LGBTQ busi­ness net­work. Texas Com­petes man­ag­ing direc­tor Jes­si­ca Short­all told the out­let that “many Texas busi­ness­es are par­tial­ly moti­vat­ed by tal­ent reten­tion.” Short­all also explained that the labor mar­ket is “tight” right now, and poli­cies like Abbot­t’s most recent one could lead to poten­tial employ­ees turn­ing down job offers rather than relo­cat­ing to Texas.

Due to this, many of these com­pa­nies have tak­en a stand against dis­crim­i­na­to­ry poli­cies. Last year, Gear­box was con­sid­er­ing a “shift from Texas” fol­low­ing the pas­sage of Texas Sen­ate Bill 29, which required pub­lic school stu­dents to take part in ath­let­ic com­pe­ti­tions based on their assigned gen­der at birth.