# Are you abandoning the fight if you move from a red state to a blue one?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/are-you-abandoning-the-fight-if-you-move-from-a-red-state-to-a-blue-one/
- Published: 2026-11-09T11:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T11:48:19+00:00
- Original publisher: Vox (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.vox.com/advice/509867/ethics-moving-red-state-blue-state
- Topics: Politics

## Key points

- A move could offer the couple stronger protections and healthcare access.
- The columnist says prioritising a spouse can be ethically sound.
- The dilemma weighs family obligations against community ties.

## Summary

A reader who is a lesbian with a trans wife is weighing whether to move from a red state to a blue state for stronger protections and better access to healthcare. The advice column explores whether leaving would mean abandoning their community, and argues that prioritising a spouse’s wellbeing can be morally justified.

It contrasts utilitarian thinking, which asks people to weigh everyone’s welfare impartially, with philosopher Bernard Williams’s view that we have special obligations to loved ones. The columnist draws on their own experience moving to Canada with their partner, and suggests that such commitments are part of ethical life rather than evidence of selfishness.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.