This 90-year-old Colorado man’s coming out story will melt your heart!
Kenneth Felts, a former counsellor, recently came out as gay to his friends and family, reported Times Now. Felts’ announcement coincides with the annual Pride month celebrated every year in June.
But for Felts, this wasn’t a new realisation.
Felts first realised he was gay when he was 12 years old.
But chose to keep it to himself. However, recently while trying to pen his memoir during the lockdown, Felts started reminiscing about one of his earlier romances with a man named Philip in the 1950s. This sudden and unexpected throwback is what encouraged Felts to finally come out to his near and dear ones.
But why now?
When asked about why Felts did not consider revealing this to his friends and family earlier, Felts told The Denver Post that back in the 50s and 60s, there were no support groups or communities and coming out was a difficult process, and that’s something he wished to avoid. He told the publication that “And I guess I didn’t have the courage to face society at that time, so I just went ahead and buried it.”
What happened to Philip?
In a Facebook post, Felts wrote about his relationship with Philip and how conflicted that made him feel.
He writes, “Nothing stood between us now, except the secret that I could not put into words. I was still horribly conflicted by opposing emotions. What was so right was really wrong, and what was wrong felt so terribly right.”
After splitting up with Philip, Felts married a woman with whom he has a daughter, Rebecca. Felts eventually got divorced. However, he is still very close to his daughter.
Speaking about what it was like to keep such a big secret from those close to him, Felt admitted that he was terrified and concerned about how people would react. He said, “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing them just because I decided to finally be who I really was.”
Felts has been regularly sharing his journey on his Facebook page.
(With inputs from Times Now)
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