Never too late: Grandfather, 90, comes out as gay, opens up about his long-lost love

Kenneth Felts is the ultimate proof it is never too late to start living your truth.

The 90-year-old grandfather has come out as gay, and his search for his long-lost love has gone viral, as people all over the globe applaud his courage to live authentically.

Felts says he is proud to be gay and says he has never felt more free.

"I had been keeping this secret most of my life, and I had planned to take it to the grave," the Colorado man said in an interview on the 3rd Hour of Today.

He explained it was the Covid-19 pandemic that, in a way, led him to break his decades-long secret.

He decided to start writing a memoir - one he couldn't complete without this revelation.

Kenneth Felts is the ultimate proof that it is never too late to start living your truth. Photo / Facebook

He said he realised he was gay when he was 12.

Growing up in Kansas, with a strict family, Felts never thought he could open up about his sexuality.

Once he moved out of the family home, he says he had a few encounters with men through the 1950s and 60s, but never felt like he could openly talk about them.

"If you came out, it really would cost you — your family, your job, all of your relationships," he said. "You would immediately be called a pervert."

He kept his secret all his life, even after joining the Navy and meeting Phillip, a man with whom he spent two years in a secret relationship with.

"It was a void in my life that had suddenly been filled by another person who, apparently, had some of the same needs," Felts said. "And we just melted into each other."

Felts could not reconcile his true love with his faith so, following a church service one Sunday, called it quits.

He went on to marry a woman, with whom he had a daughter, before later divorcing.

In a twist of destiny, his own daughter came out to him as a lesbian in 1995.

It took Felts another 25 years to get the courage to come out to her.

"One day I was talking to Rebecca and I just happened to mention, I wish I had never left Philip," he recalled.

After telling his daughter, he decided to tell other people - so he took to Facebook to open up to everyone he knew.

Posted by Kenneth Felts on Tuesday, 30 June 2020

His family, friends and even complete strangers welcomed his announcement with a kind of warmth Felts had never expected - and many offered to help track down his true love, Philip.

Sadly, they found Philip had already died.

"That was a real blow to me," he said, in tears. "I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to say goodbye."

Posted by Kenneth Felts on Thursday, 25 June 2020

Felts hopes his story can inspire younger people to not wait as long as he did.

"A lot of them telling me that they've got more courage now to come out," he said.

"I'm out, I'm gay and I'm free."