My wife, Debbie, came out as a lesbian when she was 50 years old. Her first Pride parade in New York City was also the first time, she told me early in our courtship, that she was able to understand what it feels like to be proud.
There is a picture of her on Christopher Street, beaming. She is wearing a T-shirt that says, “Yep, I’m Gay.” Around her are hundreds of people from the L.G.B.T.Q.
community, and allies, celebrating our right to be. I came out as a lesbian when I was 19 and would, in later years, identify as bisexual.
It was a relatively unremarkable experience. But after a misadventure in Arizona, I found myself in Lincoln, Neb., my home state.