Mark, in the course of writing books on queer spirituality, began to see and believe that gay people had a "magical, deep, mysterious quality".
This viewpoint, along with the emotional support of his husband, invigorated his sense of self esteem and the belief that given the choice he would "never have chosen to be any other way" than gay.
Thompson states that his brother died in his arms in 1987, months before the first effective AIDS medications were released to the public.
[5] Thompson died on August 23, 2016, in Palm Springs, California, where he moved after his husband's death.
[2] His cause of death was undetermined, but it was believed he fell or fainted due to illness or side effects from his medication.
[2] Thompson was honored in 2017 along with other notables, named on bronze bootprints, as part of San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley.