It’s not uncommon for people to quit their church, especially in a scenario where they’ve struggled to come to terms with their sexuality because their specific church refuses to affirm anything outside of heterosexuality. And many do so quietly, all the time. Others leave with a bit more of a splash.
Take Nikole Mitchell, for example. The 36-year-old former pastor ditched her megachurch in Minnesota after coming out as bisexual and is now both making a living and living out her dream as a stripper on OnlyFans.
Mitchell previously served as a pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, but told the New York Post that maintaining her position became tough after realizing she was bisexual in 2016.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’m straight’ and it rocked my world. I knew if I revealed my queerness I would lose it all because the church is not welcoming to queer people,” Mitchell said.
So she stopped going to church entirely and later came out publicly on YouTube.
Mitchell also told the New York Post that she had wanted to be a stripper since she was young, but her conservative upbringing led her down a different path, and she had originally decided to become a pastor “because of [her] love for performing.”
The move towards OnlyFans happened after she left her church and began trying to explore her sexuality and her expression of it.
“I cried because I had never felt more holy and sacred in my life,” she said of her first nude photoshoot. “I never felt more sexy and liberated than I did then.”
Now, Mitchell has an Instagram where she shares photos alongside advice for others who are interested in figuring out the best way to express their own sexuality — and encouraging everyone who wants to get paid to do so.
“I know there are a lot of voices that have a lot of opinions on what you should and should not do, should and should not be, but you are the only one who knows who you came here to be,” she wrote in a recent post. “Trust yourself, listen to yourself, and BE yourself. The world will adjust.”
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