Author: Ronna Russell

This chapter is an excerpt from my memoir "The Uncomfortable Confessions of a Preacher's Kid." No one escapes religious cults without sexual damage and I was no exception, nor was my father. He came out as gay in mid-life, as did my own husband decades later. The oppression of religion tentacled into my self perception and took decades to unthread. This chapter shows how I got started reconnecting to myself. While I had no difficulty leaving religion behind as a teenager, I had no experience interacting in the secular world, like a real-life Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt without the humor and good looks.