Certain Affinity pledges to help devs move out of places hostile to their rights
Certain Affinity, the organization behind games like Halo, has recently pledged to help support their developers to relocate away from places that are hostile to their human rights. It should be noted that the studio’s HQ is based in Austin, Texas.
Max Hoberman, the CEO of Certain Affinity, recently shared via his personal Twitter account an email that he had sent to all CA employees. The email reads:
“It is appalling that states, including the CA headquarter’s home state of Texas, are wading into what I consider personal healthy and privacy matters
“Recently this encompassed gross intrusions on the rights and dignity of transgender youth, putting politics over the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of a vulnerable population, and threatening their families, friends, doctors, and other supporters.
“As the recent draft US Supreme Court opinion potentially overturning Roe vs. Wade has shown, the rights of women to make critical decisions about their health and wellbeing — including access to vital birth control medication and abortion — and protections for the privacy of those decisions, are also under attack. Measures are already teed up in several states that will similarly punish family, friends, doctors, and other supporters who come to their aid. This is all incredibly concerning on a personal level, and also as a business owner and leader; naked politicization of private health matters is hurting our business in tangible ways, including our ability to recruit staff.”
Anti-trans legislation has been sweeping through America this year, with Texas in particular passing legislation that will severely impact the trans community. For example, in January this year it was announced that due to the passing of Senate Bill 29, transgender athletes have no other choice but to “compete on sports teams that match their sex assigned at birth.”
Then there were other increasingly draconian measures introduced, such as the directive from Texas Governor Greg Abbott which told Family and Protective Services to begin investigating all trans children in Texas, and prosecuting their parents as child abusers. He also instructed all teachers, doctors, and caregivers to begin reporting any trans students they suspect.
However, in order to combat the anti-trans and anti-abortion legislation and demonstrate Certain Affinity’s values, Hoberman stated he was making the following commitment:
“If the state or province you live in restricts access to what a majority of medical experts consider essential care, and this makes remaining there untenable for you and your family, we will cover the pre-approved, documented, reasonable out-of-pocket costs of your relocation to another, safer state or province that we operate in.”
Certain Affinity’s headquarters are in Texas, but the company also has other offices in Toronto, Ontario and does allow remote work in a number of US states and Canadian provinces.
If you’d like to find out more ways you can help transgender youth and fight back against anti-abortion legislation, please click here and here.
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