Gay Tech Exec Peter Thiel to Speak at RNC

Gay PayPal cofounder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel is one of the nation's 300 wealthiest people. He's also an ardent Donald Trump supporter, so much so that he's speaking at next week's Republican National Convention.

Though the convention's platform is described as the most anti-LGBT in Republican history -- with calls for a reversal of marriage equality, restricted bathroom access for trans people, and legalized "conversion" therapy and religious-based discrimination -- Thiel was happy to take part in the convention. Thiel will be one of only three openly gay speakers at the event and the first in 16 years, according to The Huffington Post.

Besides his career as a business owner, investor, and venture capitalist, Thiel is also known for privately funding a lawsuit by Hulk Hogan against Gawker Media after its main site published a video of the former wrestler having sex with a friend's wife. Thiel, reportedly still upset that Gawker outed him in 2007, paid $10 million of Hogan's legal expenses; Hogan won a $140 million verdict that led to Gawker's bankruptcy.

Thiel will be joined at the convention by a calvalcade of anti-LGBT speakers, including Jerry Falwell Jr., Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, and Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. Click here for the full list of speakers. Former presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have declined to speak at the event.