She was already that kid in Sunday school questioning misogyny in the Bible, asking “Why does a woman have to be submissive to a man?” she recalls. It’s potential for rejection that Ellis has had to navigate from the time she was an 8-year-old realizing she was queer. “If they come to New York and they are around all my gay friends, they’re like, ‘Oh we’re cool.’ But don’t bring it to the house. We see people on the other side of it, where everybody’s good and fine: ‘Love is love.’”īut Ellis’ reality, growing up in a God-fearing family in the Bible Belt, has been different. “I really believe that that is important to say because I’m not alone. “I am a work in progress, and my family and my community are works in progress,” Ellis says.
However, they told Ellis that they were “hurt” by her choice to express her sexuality so proudly and in such a public setting. That family member already knew that Ellis is bisexual - the 53-year-old has been open about her sexuality to her friends and family in Mississippi and the people she has worked with for decades.