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Following the passage of Texas Senate Bill 29, which requires public school students to take part in athletic competitions based on their assigned gender at birth, a coalition of Texas businesses have joined forces to oppose the open discrimination of transgender youth. Among these businesses are Amazon, Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, PayPal, and Gearbox Software, the studio behind the Borderlands series. According to David Najjab, director of institutional partnerships at Gearbox Software, the company is considering shifting production away from Texas if the state continues to pursue anti-trans legislation.
The news was first reported by NBCDFW, a local television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In its report, the station provided a copy of the business group’s open letter to state legislators, which states the current legislation “would send a message that is at odds with the Texas we know, and with our own efforts to attract and retain the best talent and to compete for business.” They then added they will “continue to oppose any unnecessary, divisive measures that would damage Texas’ reputation and make our customers, our visitors, and our employees and their families feel unwelcome or unsafe.”
In a testimony before the Texas House of Representatives, Najjab stated Texas’ push for laws targeting the transgender community would force Gearbox to consider moving its headquarters away from Frisco, the city the studio was founded in back in 1999.
“Our game company is in competition worldwide,” Najjab said. “We export more than–we sell more to Asia than we do in the United States. We bring a lot of money into this state, we’re headquartered here. Don’t drive us to where we have to start expanding outside of Texas and outside the country.”
GameSpot reached out to Gearbox for comment but the company declined to give additional statements on the matter.
