The 2016 Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention were historic in a number of ways, from Never Trump and Bernie Or Bust drama on the floor, to the first ever nomination of a woman to a major political party.
They were also perhaps the queerest conventions in history. Here is a rundown of what made the 2016 RNC and DNC stand out.
Republican Convention
• Donald Trump’s speech was heavy on mentions of terrorism and violence, as well as on assurances that he would be able to protect the country, including the LGBT community.
• “As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” Trump said after mentioning the mass shooting in Orlando at Pulse nightclub.
• Trump also walked out onstage to Queen’s “We Are The Champions.” The band has asked Trump to stop using their music, but he continues to do so.
• Entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel became the first openly gay person to speak at the Republican National Convention in 16 years, and the first one to speak about his orientation from stage.
• Thiel drew applause when he declared himself proud to be “gay, a Republican and most of all an American.”
• “When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet Union, and we won. Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?” Thiel also said.
• Washington, D.C. delegate Rachel Hoff became the first openly gay person to serve on the platform committee. Hoff tried to get an amendment through to make the platform less hostile to same-sex marriage. It failed, and she ended up making an emotional plea asking the party to hear her concerns.
She has since said that she believes the Republican Party, outside of the platform committee, is becoming more accepting of the LGBT community.
• A “Gays For Trump” rally took place on day two of the RNC in Cleveland, featuring Breitbart writer and now-banned Twitter troll Milo Yiannopoulos, as well as right-wing activist Pamela Geller and Dutch politician Geert Wilders. It was officially called “Wake Up! (the most fab party at the RNC). Most of the talk centered on the perceived threat of Islam and the belief that Trump was the best candidate to keep Americans safe.
• Third Eye Blind played a concert for RNC attendees, where they closed out the show with their hit song “Jumper,” which front man Stephan Jenkins told the crowd is “a noir about a guy who jumped off a bridge and killed himself because he was gay.” He asked them to be more accepting of gay people, like his cousins.
Democratic Convention
• LGBT rights were mentioned in both Hillary Clinton’s speech and in the speech introducing her, given by her daughter Chelsea Clinton.
• “And we will defend, we will defend all our rights — civil rights, human rights and voting rights…women’s rights and workers’ rights…LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities!” Hillary Clinton said.
• Chelsea Clinton said that her mother knew that “LGBT rights are human rights.”
• Activist Sarah McBride made history as the first transgender person to speak at a national convention.
• Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign; Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus; and Jason Collins, who became the first publicly gay athlete to play in one of the four major North American pro sports leagues, also spoke.
• The 2016 DNC was also historic for having the largest number of LGBT delegates to date, with some 600 identifying as gay and 28 as transgender, out of 4,765 total delegates.
• The Wells Fargo Center, where the convention was held, had all-gender restrooms to better accommodate transgender attendees. Five percent of the bathrooms were designated as all-gender.
