On February 22, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott given an order for child protection services to investigate the families of transgender children who receive gender-affirming health care for child abuse. One day laterhe called on everyday Texans, in addition to professionals, to report parents for “child abuse” under threat of criminal negligence.
Today, 65 companies, including several gaming giants such as Electronic Arts, Gearbox Entertainment and Microsoft, signed a letter organized by the LGBTQ organization Human Rights Campaign, the “Call[s] at [the] Governor to halt anti-LGBTQ+ efforts.” The full-page ad ran today in Friday’s Dallas Morning News.
Rebecca Marques, HRC’s Texas director, released the ad copy today.
“Our companies do business, create jobs, and serve customers in Texas.” The letter reads. “We are calling on our public leaders — in Texas and across the country — to stop efforts to write discrimination into law and politics. Not only is it wrong, it impacts our employees, our customers, their families and our jobs.”
Many of the tech and gaming signers, including EA, Microsoft, and Gearbox, are members of Texas competes, a pro-LGBTQ business network. Texas Competes CEO Jessica Shortall narrated igamesnews that many Texas companies are motivated in part by talent retention. The job market for hiring technical staff is tight, and employers have turned down job offers when asking candidates to relocate to Texas. This is especially important when 32 percent of game developers identify as something other than straight and almost 10 percent identify as a different gender than the one assigned at birth.
The letter also isn’t the first time Gearbox Entertainment has taken a stand on transgender rights. Last year, an executive testified against a bill to that effect Ban transgender athletes from athletic competition. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford also opposed Texas’ anti-trans bathroom law in 2017, which would have restricted people to using restrooms in public buildings based on their birth certificates.
Briefly told igamesnews that she believes movement against the law was relatively quiet for the first week because it was unclear whether the order would stand up in court. On March 2, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas managed to block child protection services from examining the parents of a transgender child receiving medical treatment. The court is currently debating whether or not the ACLU’s injunction in this case applies to the governor’s orders more broadly.
While Texas politicians have always had more roar than legal sense, these attacks on transgender rights have created a hostile environment for trans people and their families.
Correction: 11/3/2022, 2:05 ET: “Gearbox Software” has been changed to “Gearbox Entertainment”, the parent company of Gearbox Software.
