From Pain to Love: Our Journey Outside the Rainbow shares their experiences as young Black girls in the South, meeting for the first time, feeling a spark and deep connection shared between them, lying about the nature of their relationship, and finally proudly living a happy, honest, loving, and fulfilling life committed to each other.
Both born in the 1960s, a young Naomi survived childhood trauma, poverty, and insecurities, and shares how she persevered through the pain while Marilyn lived a secret life that conflicted with her desire to hold onto her faith and the expectation of who she was supposed to be.
Meeting briefly at age 13 and then again at age 20, the women continued to feel that undeniable spark between them. This was the start of living a life of lies and confusion. Marilyn, who had married her high school sweetheart, left her marriage to be with Naomi. They fell in love in the late 1980s and tried to live a normal life in the eyes of society while surviving lies, hidden struggles, and battling their sexual identities. Both with young kids and Naomi in the military, they lived together as “sisters.” In 1992, they appeared as guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show, lying about the true nature of their relationship.
Through their intimate and vulnerable words written in From Pain to Love: Our Journey Outside the Rainbow, Naomi and Marilyn hope that sharing their story will help others who are facing similar challenges and encourage them to live authentically. From Pain to Love: Our Journey Outside the Rainbow is a moving reminder that love wins. Love always wins.
