Though LGBT Americans might not be a significant voting block in and of themselves, they have managed to channel significant amounts of money to candidates and there are many Americans who are sympathetic to their views.
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But Thiel is a more likely candidate than Jenner to be the face of the increasingly diverse Republican voter.
When the technology investor Peter Thiel takes the stage just before Donald J. Trump at the Republican convention this week, he will become the most prominent public face of a species so endangered it might as well be called extinct: the Silicon Valley Trump supporter.
His declaration is the first time a speaker at the Republican convention has ever acknowledged they were gay.
“I am not a politician, but neither is Donald Trump. Thank you”, Trump said, straying slightly from an otherwise closely scripted speech. It was an uneasy moment inside the hall, with those who disagreed choosing to stay silent.
The Republican Party’s platform opposes last year’s Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage across the United States, calling “traditional marriage and family” the “foundation for a free society”.
And Thiel has been consistent in his GOP support.
With Trump in Cleveland ready to give his remarks, tensions could worsen at demonstration zones outside the arena.
Trump has also stated a few times recently that he would repeal the Johnson Amendment, the 1954 measure forbidding churches from endorsing political candidates, considered by pastors as a danger to free speech via the threat of losing tax-exempt status.
“Our government was once high-tech”, Thiel said.
“I am proud to be gay”, he said.
Thiel’s inclusion on the schedule was always high-risk. He was even portrayed in the movie about Facebook, The Social Network, by actor Wallace Langham.
For those hoping Trump’s nomination will help fix the perception that Republicans are hostile to equality, there’s another challenge: Mainstream gay rights groups are denouncing the NY billionaire, arguing that tolerance for one minority group doesn’t excuse prejudice toward others – like Hispanics and Muslims.
Thiel’s interests are far more varied than sealing the U.S. Mexican border with a pre-fabricated concrete wall.
He kept his speech short.
“Silicon Valley is an island of prosperity”, Thiel’s confidante told me, “and Peter will say that all you need to do is cross a bridge” to find people who are struggling. And that comes in a year when the Republican Party has significantly revised its platform toward anti-gay policies, including a nod to the controversial practice of conversion therapy for gay kids. “But Silicon Valley is a small place”, Thiel said in his speech. “The Republican Party needs to understand”. Lucchese says the economy should be everyone’s number one issue, but admitted, “I don’t know why people aren’t accepting that”. Retired Lieut. -Gen. Michael Flynn mocked the Obama Administration for being too inclusive with the military: “War is not about bathrooms”.
Thiel’s speech didn’t concentrate on LGBT rights, but on his support for Trump. Trump brought the crowd to a roar, saying: “We can not afford to be so politically correct anymore”.
So delegates are to be forgiven for not fully understanding what, exactly, the GOP is trying to do at other points.
The closing-night moment aside, Trump’s nominating convention featured awkward silences on the rare occasions when gay rights have come up. He has spoken out against Medicare and Social Security spending. And Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said the Constitution does not see sexual identity.
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The conservative PayPal founder and Facebook investor is the first openly gay person to speak at a Republican National Convention since 2016, when then-Rep.
