Tech Billionaire About to Make History
Peter Thiel Thursday night is expected to become the first speaker at a Republican National Convention to tell delegates he is a “proud gay man.” The PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor who is a libertarian will be the first openly-gay speaker at an RNC since 2000 to address the convention, and only the third ever.
“Thiel, who supports gay marriage, plans to say that while he does not agree with all the policies in the official GOP platform, he believes fighting over cultural issues such as so-called ‘bathroom bills’ is a distraction from more important matters,” The Washington Post reports tonight.
It’s unknown how the audience will respond, but unlike Rachel Campos-Duffy, wife of U.S. Congressman Sean Duffy, who was booed by attendees at the RNC after telling them her grandparents were from Mexico, Thiel is not expected to be mistreated.
The Republican National Committee passed the most anti-LGBT platform in history this week, which, among other attacks, calls for same-sex marriage to be overturned in the courts, and supports harmful “reparative” therapy to change sexual orientation.
NEW:Â Watch GOP Chair Reince Priebus Lie About LGBT Portions of the 2016 Republican Platform
In 2000 Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona addressed the convention, as did Stephen Fong in 1996, although neither reportedly stated they were gay.
In 2014 Thiel was reportedly worth $2.2 billion. He funded the lawsuit against Gawker Media by Hulk Hogan, which bankrupted the company, because a decade ago Gawker outed him, even though it was common knowledge he was gay.
Â
This article has been updated to correctly reflect the date of Thiel’s speech.
Image by Heisenberg Media via Flickr and a CC license