Gay billionaire Peter Thiel joins anti-LGBT activists on Donald Trump transition team
Trump cited the support of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel when he said that LGBT+ people “like the job” he’s doing. Alex Wong/Getty)
Gay billionaire Peter Thiel has joined Donald Trump’s transition team and administration alongside a string of anti-LGBT activists, the President-elect has confirmed.
President-elect Trump has been beginning the process of setting up his transition team, with LGBT rights group raising extreme concern about some of his key advisers.
Mr Trump’s head of domestic policy is part of a listed anti-LGBT hate group, while others have ties to the ultra-conservative movement and the far right.
But the Republican President-elect today appointed gay Republican billionaire and PayPal founder Peter Thiel to his transition team’s executive committee.
Speaking to the New York Times on Wednesday, Mr Thiel hinted about a role.
He said: “A page in the book of history has turned, and there is an opening to think about some of our problems from a new perspective. I’ll try to help the president in any way I can.”
However, he was appointed on Friday. He joins three of Mr Trump’s children – Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump.
Anti-LGBT Vice President-elect Mike Pence will serve as Chair, replacing scandal-plagued Chris Christie.
New Jersery Governor Christie has been vulnerable in recent weeks, with two of his aides convicted on criminal charges over the Bridgegate scandal.
Mr Thiel, who donated more than $1 million to the Trump campaign, made history earlier this year as the first openly gay speaker at the Republican National Convention.
The tech billionaire is a controversial figure.
Mr Thiel recently admitted secretly funding a multi-million dollar lawsuit that forced online news outlet Gawker Media into bankruptcy, as “revenge” over its coverage that referenced his sexuality back in 2007.
The businessman was openly gay at the time of Gawker’s articles, but claimed his privacy had been “violated” by the outlet, beginning a decade-long battle to force the publisher out of business.
He insisted previously: “It’s not a lack of judgement that leads Americans to vote for Trump; we’re voting for Trump because we judge the leadership of our country to have failed.”
