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agonyaunt2022-05-04 12:44 pm
minoanmiss) wrote in agonyaunt2022-05-04 12:44 pm
Entry tags:
Ask a Manager: I Don't Want To Move To Texas
Content advisory: recent sociopolitical news, not-so-recent lawmaking, reproductive rights and trans people legally imperiled.
2. Company says they’ll fly me to another state if I need an abortion
My partner began working for Big Tech Company during the pandemic, so his role was remote. We (cis, straight) thought it would stay that way, but now BTC is requiring that we move to Austin and saying that no one is exempt except for medical reasons, like if there is a specific doctor that you cannot find a corollary for in Texas.
As firm believers in reproductive, LGBTQ+ and all other rights, we will not move there and have told BTC such, citing my loss of bodily autonomy and our solidarity with the trans community. Their “solution” is that, were I to need an abortion, they would pay for me to fly to another state to receive one.
To me, this seems as if they’re picking and choosing which medical conditions “count.” If you were seeing a cancer specialist, they wouldn’t say, “Well, we’ll fly you home to see your doctor if you relapse.” I know it isn’t a perfect comparison, but it’s also a bad policy. (My partner is supposed to tell BTC, “Hey, Girlfriend needs to fly to another state for an abortion”?? No chance that could have any repercussions…)
Do you have any thoughts on if/how we might push back on this? My partner loves his job and doesn’t want to leave, but we are NOT moving somewhere so regressive.
I wish I did. I suspect their reasoning is that this isn’t a doctor from whom you need ongoing or current care, and so it’s more of a speculative situation — although I 100% understand and agree with your reasoning. They’re also probably concerned that if they agree, they’ll be handing a pass on moving to every employee who could get pregnant or is married to someone who could. My guess is that the only way to get them to budge will be with more organized action with other employees joining you. But other thoughts from readers?
2. Company says they’ll fly me to another state if I need an abortion
My partner began working for Big Tech Company during the pandemic, so his role was remote. We (cis, straight) thought it would stay that way, but now BTC is requiring that we move to Austin and saying that no one is exempt except for medical reasons, like if there is a specific doctor that you cannot find a corollary for in Texas.
As firm believers in reproductive, LGBTQ+ and all other rights, we will not move there and have told BTC such, citing my loss of bodily autonomy and our solidarity with the trans community. Their “solution” is that, were I to need an abortion, they would pay for me to fly to another state to receive one.
To me, this seems as if they’re picking and choosing which medical conditions “count.” If you were seeing a cancer specialist, they wouldn’t say, “Well, we’ll fly you home to see your doctor if you relapse.” I know it isn’t a perfect comparison, but it’s also a bad policy. (My partner is supposed to tell BTC, “Hey, Girlfriend needs to fly to another state for an abortion”?? No chance that could have any repercussions…)
Do you have any thoughts on if/how we might push back on this? My partner loves his job and doesn’t want to leave, but we are NOT moving somewhere so regressive.
I wish I did. I suspect their reasoning is that this isn’t a doctor from whom you need ongoing or current care, and so it’s more of a speculative situation — although I 100% understand and agree with your reasoning. They’re also probably concerned that if they agree, they’ll be handing a pass on moving to every employee who could get pregnant or is married to someone who could. My guess is that the only way to get them to budge will be with more organized action with other employees joining you. But other thoughts from readers?
subthreads
Subtopics include: will the company actually do this or is the offer for show; the logistics of the offer; whether it extends or could extend to treatment for trans kids ; would it be more helpful for more liberals to move to Texas or to leave Texas.
Subtopics so far have not included: the evils of abortion; the evils of being trans; the evils of liberals; how dare you mess with Texas. I am very relieved.
Re: subthreads
(We moved after the ACA passed but before the Supreme Court allowed states to opt-out of Medicaid expansion, so we're literally financially trapped here because our medical expenses add up to too much to achieve escape velocity . . . plus, our current housing situation of renting from a family member is a lot more secure and price-stable than renting from a commercial landlord.)
I really hope the LW can find a way around this.
Re: subthreads
There was an interesting subthread where some people said that liberals should move to Texas and help flip it to Blue. I am still contemplating that but inclined to disagree.
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Okay, so, BTC (and I have trouble not parsing that as "Bitcoin") has arranged it so that the state's draconian abortion laws won't affect you personally. "It doesn't affect me personally" is NOT good enough. And what if this couple plan to have kids? What if their child turns out to be trans, and the law prohibits them from seeking gender-affirming medical care for that child?
You might think that the only hope of getting laws changed in places like Texas is if companies like BTC start to notice that they can't attract or retain qualified talent because of the state's laws surrounding reproductive freedom and LGBTQ people and relationships, and then start to lobby to have the laws changed, because Republicans listen to big business. But you'd be wrong. The Talibangelists would be perfectly happy to burn the entire state to the ground and leave it a smoking, impoverished crater so long as they got to "pwn the libs". Not only will they cut off their nose to spite their face, they'll full-on decapitate themselves. So staying isn't going to help.
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Crazy laws like this are ostensibly about homophobia and controlling women's bodies, but only partially so.
What's really happening is that the deplorables are shitting themselves over the fact that states like Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina are turning Democratic. And what's fueling that shift, is educated liberals moving to "blue island in a red state" places like Austin, Atlanta, and Cary/RTP. That in-migration is changing the political climate in these places. The deplorables see this as an existential threat, so they're going to extreme measures to get these people to leave. Laws like this are a big "Fuck you, we don't want you here, pack your bags and GTFO" to liberals who might have moved there in search of cheaper housing costs, warmer weather, or whatever else.
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Oh I'm not worried about the companies losing money. I think they would use the risk as an excuse to take back any promises to fly someone out of Texas for reproductive care.
I totally agree with the rest of your analysis. There was a side discussion about whether liberal people have an obligation to/can do more good if we move to 'red' states. It was interesting if sometimes infuriating.
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I think in terms of places like Texas and Florida, at this point, as they say in German, „Da ist Hopfen und Malz verloren“. I don't think all the liberals in the world moving there and trying to change the political and social climate is going to help. You can't fix stupid. If you have liberal values and live in a place like that and have kids, time to provide them with the tools and skills that will enable them to leave. (Also, liberal places like Boston and NYC and California really need to fix their housing crisis rather than playing beggar-thy-neighbor with red states--a lot of liberals moved to red states in the last 20 years specifically to escape high housing costs, and that's a big part of what's driving the blue shift.)
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