As the backlash against prominent Donald Trump supporter and Facebook board member Peter Thiel continues to grow, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come out in support of the controversial Libertarian — suggesting that not only will Thiel remain on the board but that he will do so because he represents "diversity" at the social media giant.

Yes, in Silicon Valley "diversity" apparently means a gay white billionaire tech investor who has implied the country was better off before women got the right to vote.

"I want to quickly address the questions and concerns about Peter Thiel as a board member and Trump supporter," Zuckerberg wrote in a post that CNN reports was apparently only shared internally with Facebook employees. "We care deeply about diversity," he added, before continuing with his justification for doing business with a man who belittled trans rights at the Republican National Convention.

"We can't create a culture that says it cares about diversity and then excludes almost half the country because they back a political candidate," Zuckerberg wrote. "There are many reasons a person might support Trump that do not involve racism, sexism, xenophobia or accepting sexual assault."

Zuckerberg's explanation for his refusal to cut ties with Thiel echoes that of Y Combinator's Sam Altman, who wrote that while "[Trump] represents a real threat to the safety of women, minorities, and immigrants," he is still cool financially benefiting from a man who has become a de facto Trump surrogate.

Facebook has notably struggled with actual diversity — not "we employ people who support an insane nut-job for president" diversity — and just this past summer released a report detailing just how homogeneous the company is.

But hey, maybe Zuckerberg is planning for a contingency where Trump actually gets elected and he needs to flee the country — we hear Thiel is working on some pretty sweet artificial islands where no one will force you to release internal company diversity stats.

Previously: Stain Of Peter Thiel's Trump Advocacy Marks Y Combinator As Silicon Valley Backlash Grows