Openly Gay Peter Thiel Won't Fund GOP Bets

Tech billionaire and Republican megadonor and admitted gay Peter Thiel, an early backer of former President Donald Trump who later broke with him, is not planning to donate to any candidates in 2024, two people close to the businessman said, Anna Tong, Alexandra Ulmer and Jeffrey Dastin reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: GOP megadonor Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on hot-button US cultural issues, particularly abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools as two examples.

Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on hot-button US cultural issues, said one of the sources, a business associate, citing abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools as two examples.

Thiel came to this conclusion by late 2022, the sources said. He believes Republicans are making a mistake in focusing on cultural flashpoints and should be more concerned with spurring US innovation and competing with China, the source said.

Thiel's plans for the GOP primary and general election have not been previously reported.

Online news site Puck reported the German-born Thiel was most likely either to support Trump or sit out the primary. When he spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he had more hope that the party would concentrate on economic issues.

"I am proud to be gay," Thiel said on stage. The German-born entrepreneur has a fortune estimated at around $4.2 billion after co-founding PayPal and Palantir and investing early in Facebook.

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