Mr. Thiel’s remarks came about an hour before Mr. Trump spoke, one of the most coveted slots of the week. When Jim Kolbe, an openly gay congressman from Arizona, addressed the convention in 2000, he spoke about trade policy, making no mention of being gay or of gay rights. PhotoCLEVELAND — Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, declared “I am proud to be gay” in a speech on Thursday night, making him the first person believed to utter those words from the stage of a Republican National Convention. His sexuality, and his willingness to embrace it publicly in front of such a large audience, makes him even more of an outlier for a Republican convention. And he helped cap a convention that began with Republicans’ ratifying what supporters and opponents alike described as their most socially conservative platform ever.

Source: New York Times July 21, 2016 19:07 UTC