--- title: Republican Convention: Trump Campaign Downplays Peter Thiel description: Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel will be the third openly gay person to speak at a Republican National Convention. canonical: https://time.com/4409879/republican-convention-peter-thiel-gay/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T01:54:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:03:00.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Campaign Downplays Significance of Gay Speaker og:description: They say Peter Thiel will be speaking about business. og:url: https://time.com/4409879/republican-convention-peter-thiel-gay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb00d3cfb7bca0105/69889c3e196cf4524d03c6dc/peter-thiel.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal Inc., speaks during a forum themed on entrepreneurship and investment at China National Convention Center on February 27, 2015 in Beijing, China. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Campaign Downplays Significance of Gay Speaker twitter:description: They say Peter Thiel will be speaking about business. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb00d3cfb7bca0105/69889c3e196cf4524d03c6dc/peter-thiel.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Campaign Downplays Significance of Gay Speaker > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:03 AM UTCPublished: Jul 18, 2016 1:54 AM UTC  Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal Inc., speaks during a forum themed on entrepreneurship and investment at China National Convention Center on February 27, 2015 in Beijing, China. Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal Inc., speaks during a forum themed on entrepreneurship and investment at China National Convention Center on February 27, 2015 in Beijing, China.VCG—VCG via Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:03 AM UTCPublished: Jul 18, 2016 1:54 AM UTC **Correction appended, July 18, 2016** Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel will be a rare openly gay person to speak at a Republican National Convention, but Donald Trump’s campaign downplayed any significance. Speaking at a press conference before the convention opens, Trump’s convention manager, Paul Manafort, said that Thiel was invited to speak simply because he’s a friend of Trump who can speak credibly about business. “He’ll be talking about Donald Trump the man he knows and as a successful entrepreneur,” Manafort said. “People are going to be speaking at this convention based on what they want to say, not on any particular sexual preference or things like that, so I don’t think that’s the basis for why he’s on the program,” he added. The Republican platform approved last week by a committee includes provisions opposing same-sex marriage and transgender protections pushed by the Obama Administration and embracing the controversial practice of conversion therapy. But Manafort cited Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus in arguing that the GOP is “an open-tent party” in which people with different views could come together. Thiel is one of the cofounders of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook. He is known for libertarian views on politics and [donated to Carly Fiorina’s super PAC](http://fortune.com/2016/05/10/peter-thiel-trump-delegate/) before backing Trump. **Correction:** An earlier version of this post misstated the number of openly gay speakers at Republican conventions. 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