March 2nd

03-02-1872 – 09-09-1967 Geraldine Morgan Thompson – Born in New York City, New York. She was an American social reform pioneer who became known as the “First Lady of New Jersey” because of her philanthropic and social service activities. Her activism was aimed at female prison reform, public health, and juvenile justice. She was the first female New Jersey delegate to a Republican National Convention in 1923. Thompson was also a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. She had a forty year relationship with Miriam Van Waters, a social worker who served as superintendent of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Framingham. Both women had to remain closeted in order to maintain their positions. In 1949, in fear of being outed, Van Waters destroyed all the romantic letters she had received from Thompson.

03-02-1894 — 03-08-1964   Renata Borgatti – Born in Italy, place unknown. She was an Italian classical musician, performing in Europe and the United States. In the early 1900s, she settled on the island of Capri, where as a lesbian, she was more accepted. Borgatti had an affair with Faith Mackenzie, whose husband Compton Mackenzie wrote of the island’s lesbian residents in the 1928, titled Extraordinary Women. Borgatti also had an affair with Romain Brooks. When that relationship failed, she began an affair with Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. In her later years, she taught music. In 1964, she died in Rome of leukemia. (drawing by John Singer Sargent in 1921)

03-02-1930 Pat Arrowsmith – Place of birth unknown. She is a British author and peace campaigner. She was the first to come out in Who’s Who in 1977. She is a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She has served eleven prison sentences for her political activities. In 1979, Arrowsmith married, in order to fulfill her father’s condition for inheriting his money after his death. The marriage was annulled on the same day. “My father probably thought that if I had to get married, I would dismiss all notions of leading a gay lifestyle,” she says. “I discovered after he died, from his diaries, that he knew I was gay, as he wrote, ‘She’s not even ashamed of it.’” Arrowsmith donated her inheritance to various political causes.

03-02-1945 Gordon Thomson – Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a Canadian actor best known as Adam Carrington on the American prime-time soap opera Dynasty. After Dynasty ended, Thomson had roles in daytime soaps, including The Young and the Restless, Passions, Sunset Beach, and in 2009, he appeared on Days of Our Lives. Arron Spelling used him in eight different series, including Fantasy Island, Glitter, The Love Boat, and Beverly Hills, 90210. From 2011 to 2014, Thomson appeared on the soap opera web series DeVanity, and in 2015 he began starring in the soap opera web series Winterthorne. On September 25, 2017, he came out as gay.

03-02-1988 Matthew Mitcham – 2012 Olympic Diving Athlete born in Coopers Plains, Brisbane, Australia. He won the Olympic gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympic and he is the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since Dick Eve in 1924. Mitcham publicly came out as gay in 2008 to the Sydney Morning Herald. He was also featured on the cover of the international gay publication, The Advocate in August 2008 and March 2009. Mitcham’s then boyfriend, Lachlan Fletcher, attended the 2008 Summer Olympic Games as a spectator. His trip was sponsored by a grant from Johnson & Johnson’s Athlete Family Support Program.