The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Why this 90-year-old man decided to come out as gay during the pandemic

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June 30, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Kenneth Felts, 90, after participating in the 2020 Denver Pride Virtual 5K on June 20. Felts hid his sexuality for nearly a century but decided to come out as gay while writing his memoir. (Rebecca Mayes)

Kenneth Felts spent his entire life in the closet. But at 90 years old, he felt ready to come out.

Since the age of 12, when he first knew he was gay, Felts said, he had been living a double life, battling between dueling identities. There was Ken, his outward-facing straight self, and then there was his alter ego, whom he referred to internally as Larry, a gay man he spent nearly eight decades stifling.