Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Suggests State’s Low Taxes Make Up for Anti-LGBT Discrimination

Responds to New York Economic Development Ads 

On Tuesday, we were the first to report on New York State’s new economic development campaign targeting Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas as hostile environments for LGBT people. 

On Wednesday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — who’s among the officials singled out in the ads — responded to the Empire State’s “Open Doors” campaign on Twitter. 

“It omits how NY led way in taxes, regulations, union abuses, high living costs & how New Yorkers are fleeing to TX,” Abbott wrote. 

In other words, Abbott appears to be suggesting that those things somehow justify discrimination against LGBT people — the latest example of which came Wednesday, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought an injunction blocking President Barack Obama’s transgender schools directive. 

New York’s “Open Doors” ads, which began airing Sunday, single out Abbott for a memo he issued in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell, in which the governor suggested that public officials can discriminate against same-sex couples under the guise of “religious freedom.” 

The Texas Tribune reports that the two states have been battling it out for business for years, with New York home to the most Fortune 500 companies, 55, followed by Texas with 54. 

The Tribune also notes that Abbott’s tweet is accurate in that 6,000 more people moved from New York to Texas than vice versa in 2013. 

However, one might also point out that the Texas Association of Business, which is the state’s chamber of commerce, has come out against anti-LGBT legislation, and that more than 1,000 employers in the Lone Star State have signed the Texas Competes pledge in support of LGBT inclusion. 

A few responses to Abbott’s tweet: