Celebrity Friday: List of the top 10 LGBT billionaires in the world

There is a list of the top 10 billionaires in the world, and Giorgio Armani is at the head, with a net worth of over US$8 billion. One interesting fact is that four of the top 10 are in the fashion industry: Armani, (Domenico) Dolce & (Stefano) Gabbana and Michael Kors. Also interesting to note is that there is only one lesbian Megan Ellison (daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison) and only one transgender person (Jennifer Pritzker).

There Are 7 Openly LGBT Billionaires (Combined Net Worth $16B)

Forbes magazine reveals that there are now seven openly LGBT billionaires in the world. Previously, I had blogged about the openly transgender billionaire, Jennifer Pritzker. At that time I had only identified three billionaires: David Geffen, Peter Thiel, Jon Stryker and Pritzker. But now they have been joined by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (the owners and creators of the Dolce Gabbana brand) as well as Michael Kors.

Not surprisingly, since men dominate the list of 1645 billionaires in the world, there are currently no openly lesbian billionaires.

For those of you counting at home, this means that just 0.7% of the world's known billionaires are openly LGBT.

First Openly Transgender Billionaire Identified

James Pritzker has announced a name change to Jennifer Natalya Pritzker

Forbes magazine is the primary source for information about the world's billionaires and recently they have identified a milestone: the existence of the first openly transgender billionaire, Jennifer Natalya Pritzker.

Jennifer Natalya Pritzker, formally known as James, is one of 11 billionaire members of the extended Pritzker family on the FORBES list. They sold a majority stake in industrial conglomerate Marmon Holdings to Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway  for $4.5 billion in 2007 and continue to control publicly-listed Hyatt Hotels. The heiress has an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion. 

[...] 

Pritzker is a retired Army lieutenant colonel with 11 years active duty, followed by 16 years in the U.S. National Guard. Earlier this year, she gave $1.35 million to the Palm Center to create the Transgender Military Service Initiative. The goal of the project is “to sponsor state-of-the-art scholarship on transgender military service, and to enhance the quality of public dialogue.”

As far as I can tell, there are only three known openly gay billionaires: David Geffen ($5.5b), Peter Thiel ($3b) and Jon Stryker ($1.2b). Regardless, this is an interesting milestone representative of the diversity of the LGBT community. "We are everywhere, indeed!"

Gay Donor Gives $1M To Pro-Obama Super-PAC

Mel Heifetz, 76, gave $1 million dollars to
the pro-Obama Super-PAC Priorities USA

Hollywood celebrities like Bill Maher and Morgan Freeman have each received attention for their 1 million dollar donations to Priorities USA, the super PAC that is working for Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Now comes word from TowleRoad that an openly gay donor named Mel Heifetz has donated $1 million to the Super PAC as well.

Heifetz explains why in his own words:

"Call it giving back. Call it paying it forward. What I know is I'm 76 years old, I probably don't have too many big elections left in my lifetime, and I have no reason to hold back now. People I admire like Bill Maher and Morgan Freeman have given significantly so why shouldn't I? Whatever I might want to contribute in the future, the future is now -- and I refuse to sit this one out as some try to take us back with policies that will weaken the country I love and have fought for all my life.

As a gay, man, I have lots of political issues that are personal when I look ahead to the November elections. One issue alone -- Gov. Romney's support for a federal marriage amendment -- is as insulting as it is harmful, most especially for gay and lesbian couples of my generation. Romney will take us back to the 1950s. And yet, what motivated me wasn't just one issue. I knew that, if I held back now and failed to help re-elect President Obama, I would regret it for the rest of my life. The urgency of donating in future years will be wasted if we don't get President Obama re-elected this year."

There are not that many openly gay people who can make a $1 million dollar donation without blinking. (I'm looking at you David Geffen, Jon Stryker, Chris Hughes, Tim Cook, Peter Thiel and Tim Gill!)

Cingratulations to Mel Heifetz for standing up for his beliefs.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.