In the realm of finance, a notable group of LGBTQ+ investors has emerged, making significant strides in reshaping the industry. These pioneering individuals have defied conventional norms and introduced fresh perspectives, fueling innovation and inclusivity.

Coinciding with the rise of LGBTQ+ investors, the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign has noted "considerable progress" in corporate equality as companies have moved to embrace inclusion. According to the nonprofit's 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index, the most recent report available, 90% of Fortune 500 companies now have gender identity protections, and 545 companies scored perfectly on their metrics. Relatedly, 73% of Fortune 500 companies now offer transgender-inclusive health insurance coverag🔴e (none had tꦯhis in 2002), according to the report.

The five LGBTQ+ investors highlighted here have forged highly individual paths and are leading the way for others who may want to pursue careers in finance, investment, and entrepreneurship.

Lorenzo Thione, Venture Capitalist

Lorenzo Thione is a general partner at Gaingels, a New York–based investment group.

Founded in 2014 by David Beatty and Paul Grossinger, Gaingels has become one of the largest LGBTQ+-focused private investment syndicates in the world. It has more than 2,000 members and a portfolio with more than 800 companies. Collectively, its network of investors has invested more than $500 million.

Outside of his work with Gaingels, Thione has co-founded several businesses, including Powerset, a startup focused on building a natural language search engine. The company was bought by Microsoft in 2008 for $100 million.

Thione is also a producer who was involved with Allegiance, a Broadway musical based on George Takei's childhood experiences as a Japanese-American interned by the American government during World War II.

Megan Smith, Advisor 🦂and Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Advisor, business executive, and former CTO💖 of the United Stat🍷es, Megan Smith is known as a prominent tech evangelist.

During the Obama administration, Smith served as the third-ever chief technology officer of the United States, a position that helps the federal government mold policies that involve tech or data.

Smith has held prominent positions at top companies, including vice president at Google where she led the acquisition of Google Earth and Maps, and where she was involved with the company's Women Techmakers diversity initiative, among other projects.

Smith currently works as the CEO of shift7, which scales inclusive ventures. She's also an advisor to the Malala Fund, which she co-founded, as well as to the L.A. Olympics 2028, MIT Media Lab, Vital Voices, and Think of Us.

Peter Thiel, Billionaire Financier

Perhaps the most infamous member of this li𓆉st, Peter Thiel is one of the most recognizable venture capitali🅠sts and financiers alive.

A Stanford Law School graduate who clerked for Judge J. L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, Thiel would make his name when he transitioned to business. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Thiel founded PayPal, among other ventures, and he was an early investor in Facebook, serving on its board until recently.  He’s also the founder of Palantir.

Though he was credited as the first gay person to speak at a Republican National Convention—he said on stage at the 2016 convention, “I am proud to be gay”—reporting has claimed that he was actually the second. Thiel's address at the convention was controversial, in part because the Republican Party was widely viewed as anti-LGBTQ+ due to its conservatism on same-sex marriages and transgender bathroom issues. These days, Thiel continues to inspire more headlines for his right-wing politics than he does for his investing, and he's known in the press as a complicated and somewhat inscrutable figure.

Justin Nelson♎, Co-Founꦰder, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce

With Chance Mitchell, Justin Nelson co-founded the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, which describes itself as the "largest LGBT economic advocacy and business development organization in the world."

The chamber's advocacy led to the inclusion of LGBT suppliers in Massachusetts state contracting in 2015.

Nelson has been instrumental in the creation of other organizations such as the National Business Inclusion Consortium, an umbrella organization for national organizations pursuing diversit🌞y and 𝔍inclusion in business.

A notable lobbyist and political advisor, Nelson was appointed to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Federal Advisory Council on Underserved Communities in 2022.

Martine Rothblatt, Serial Entrepreneur

Reportedly at one time the best-compensated female CEO in America and dubbed one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes in 2017,🔯 Martine Rothblatt has founded notable companies.

Rothblatt has 🐻made numerous achievements across several industries. In 1990, Rothblatt founded Sirius Satellite Radio. She would leave the company after its IPO, founding United Therapeutics Company, a biotechnology company, in 1996.

In 1994, Rothblatt came out as transgender.

A graduate of UCLA, she was awarded the UCLA Medal, the university's highest honor, in 2018 for "having expanded the way we understand fundamental concepts ranging from communications to gender to the nature of consciousness and mortality."

The Bottom Line

Even though there are still barriers and some legislative pushback, nonprofits like the Human Rights Campaign say there's been progress in getting some protections in U.S. workplaces. For the most part, though, the investors on this list forged their paths and became notable without such protections.