January 16, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Openly gay billionaire and Trump adviser Peter Thiel says he thinks the president-elect is “very good on gay rights” and won't “reverse anything.”
Thiel, a Paypal founder who bucked the Silicon Valley trend of opposing Donald Trump during the election, is the first openly gay man to give a speech at the Republican National Convention. He used this speech to say Trump won't engage in “fake culture wars” as president.
Now, Thiel is repeating that argument by insisting that in the realm of social issues, not much will change under Trump's leadership.
“I would obviously be concerned if I thought” Trump was planning to reverse LGBT progress, Thiel said in a recent interview with the New York Times.
“Even if you appointed a whole series of conservative Supreme Court justices, I’m not sure that Roe v. Wade would get overturned, ever,” Thiel continued. “I don’t know if people even care about the Supreme Court.”
Thiel told the New York Times that because of increased cultural acceptance of homosexuality, he's not particularly concerned with Vice President-elect Mike Pence's dismal reputation in the gay community. Thiel said he was “attacked way more by liberal gay people than by conservative Christian people” for speaking at the RNC.
Trump has sent mixed messages on same-sex “marriage” but made strong pro-life promises. He says he will appoint Supreme Court justices like the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump said his preference would be that such justices “stand against” Obergefell v. Hodges, which imposed same-sex “marriage” on all fifty states, but “it depends on the judge.”
Trump became the first presidential candidate from either party in history to use the words “LGBTQ community” in his nomination acceptance speech. During his campaign, he promised to advance “equality” for homosexuals but also said marriage should ultimately be a states’ rights issue.
Nevertheless, the LGBT lobby consistently labels Trump “anti-LGBT” and an “opponent of marriage equality.”
Trump said the Supreme Court justices he nominates will oppose Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion to ultimately be decided by states.
“I'm putting pro-life justices on the court…it will go back to the states, and the states will then make a determination,” he said in his final debate with Hillary Clinton.
Trump has made four promises to the pro-life movement. He said he will:
- Sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood as long as the organization continues to commit abortions;
- Repeal the Johnson Amendment, which muzzles the ability of churches to speak out on political issues;
- Sign the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which protects pre-born children from painful late-term abortions; and
- Nominate pro-life Supreme Court justices.
Shortly after he was elected, Trump told 60 Minutes that his Supreme Court justices will be pro-life but that same-sex “marriage” is “settled law.”