Television presenter Narelda Jacobs is co-hosting Sydneys Mardi Gras Parade broadcast on SBS this year, but she still remembers a time she couldnt openly embrace the LGBTIQA+ celebrations.

Growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household, the now 43-year-old Indigenous woman didnt come out till she was 21, after having a baby at age 19 and then separating from her husband who she wed when she was 18 years old.

Theres a lot of religion and faith within Aboriginal people and in particular my family, Narelda told HuffPost Australia. My dad was a reverend of the Uniting Church and hes also a Whadjuk Nyoongar man.

I guess a difficult thing a lot of Aboriginal people face when they come out is religion. Thats what makes it hard. It wasnt so much the cultural aspect of being Aboriginal or coming out, it was more the religious element. Thats what for me was the hardest part.