Peter Thiel tells America that he is a proud, gay Republican
Billionaire investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel has become the first openly gay speaker at a Republican National Convention to deliver a major speech and touch on his or her sexuality.
Thiel landed one of the most important speaking slots, appearing one speaker before Ivanka Trump, who was followed by Donald Trump.
In the speech, Thiel touched on America's technology growth and the government's failures to keep up.
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He then transitioned into a critique of the cultural topics of the election, first touching on the debate about transgendered bathroom usage and then talking about his own sexuality.
"Of course every American has a unique identity," he said. "I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American."
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Only two other openly gay speakers have addressed a Republican convention. Neither spoke about their sexuality.
Thiel's speech comes during a convention at which the party adopted "the most anti-LGBT platform the Republican party has ever had," according to the Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-gay conservative group.
Thiel's sexuality has been public since 2007, when Gawker outed him in a blog post. Before that, it was known as something of an open secret in tech circles.
Gawker's coverage put the media company on Thiel's bad side, something that came back to haunt them. Gawker has now declared bankruptcy due to the financial impact of lawsuits against the media company backed by Thiel.
Thiel's support of Trump came as something of a surprise. He is know for having aggressively libertarian political leanings, although he has in the past donated to anti-immigration groups.
Thiel delivered a strong endorsement of Trump, saying that he believed the candidate would be good for the country's economy and avoid cultural issues.
"Fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline and nobody in this race is being honest about it except for Donald Trump," he said.
Topics Donald Trump Elections
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
