Peter Thiel Becomes First Openly Gay Man to Address His Sexuality at RNC

Peter Thiel became the first openly gay speaker to address his sexuality at the Republican National Convention and Twitter came with the opinions.

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Complex Original

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PayPal co-founder and billionaire Peter Thiel made history Thursday night when he became the first openly gay man to address his sexuality at the Republican National Convention. "I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all, I am proud to be an American," he said. The declaration came at the end of a short speech in which he decried the United States' lack of technology leadership, poorly executed wars in the Middle East, and "divisive" culture wars. "Who cares?" he asked in response to the idea of transgender bathroom laws.

Naturally, a gay man coming out at the Republican National Convention is a big deal no matter how you slice it. However, his dismissiveness of trans issues and lack of condemnation of anti-gay platform planks left some feeling cold about his speech. You can check out some of the reactions on Twitter below, and watch his whole speech in the video above.

Still have goosebumps thinking of @peterthiel's speech - and the resounding ovation from the #gopconvention crowd that welcomed it #RNCinCLE

— Gregory T. Angelo (@gregorytangelo) July 22, 2016

Not watching. Did Mike Pence rush the stage and try to convert Peter Thiel into a straight person?

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) July 22, 2016

.@guypbenson: “I’m proud of what [@peterthiel] just did on a personal level & I tip my cap to the Trump camp for welcoming that message…”

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) July 22, 2016

Peter Thiel? pic.twitter.com/fnZtM2bgUi

— Southern Homo (@SouthernHomo) July 22, 2016

Peter Theil's message: I'm gay but it's more important that I'm rich so who the hell cares about the kid forced into conversion therapy

— Guy Cecil (@guycecil) July 22, 2016

Wow @peterthiel knocked it out of park "I'm proud to be gay I'm proud to be a republican I'm proud to be an American" amazing @FoxBusiness

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) July 22, 2016

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