The time is 1957 and the place is the Southern United States. Pastor Jedediah Browning is an old-fashioned African American preacher living in the City of Macon, Georgia. He is happily married to a lady named Beulah Cosgrove-Browning, and they have two adult daughters, Mildred Browning and Melanie Browning. The two young African American women are studying engineering at Spelman College. Pastor Jedediah Browning is a dedicated family man who is considered a pillar of the local Black community. In the days before segregation ended, Black church leaders were the protectors of the Black community. They were often the most learned Black men in town, providing leadership and protection against the racist system.
Just like today, the life of a Black leader in the United States of America back in 1957 was far from easy. Pastor Jedediah Browning is the kind of man who is forced to wear a lot of different hats. He uses the Black church to organize the local Black businesses, and establishes a buffer between them and the hostile whites who wanted to keep them underfoot. The great man has taken on many challenges, but where does it stop? When one of his church congregants, a young Black man named Theodore Boswell told him that he's got questions about his sexuality, Pastor Jedediah Browning and his wife Beulah staged a rather unusual intervention.
"Theo, the life of a Bisexual man is easier than the life of a man who only fucks men, I will teach you what was once taught to me," Pastor Jedediah Browning promised the young Black man. Theodore looked at the Pastor, a tall, chubby, silver-haired and dark-skinned Black man, and nodded. For most of his life, Theodore liked the fellas, though sometimes, he liked certain women. Theodore wants to find a wife and marry, but he knows that his Homo tendencies will get in the way of that. At the age of twenty one, Theodore has only one semester left at Morehouse College before he graduates. He's been with seven men and three women, that's the sum total of his sexual experiences. Is there hope for him?
"Yes, sir, help me control my other side," Theodore said, and Pastor Jedediah Browning nodded, and thus invited him over to his house for dinner with his wife Beulah. Theodore showed up at the Pastor's house three and a half hours following the church service, still wearing his Sunday best. When Theodore arrived at the pastor's house, he was greeted by the pastor's wife, First Lady Beulah Cosgrove-Browning. The tall, curvy, dark-skinned and statuesque church dame greeted Theodore with a smile and ushered him inside. Theodore felt both excited and nervous around the Pastor's wife. Lady Beulah has quite a presence, as they say...
"Welcome, Theo, Pastor Jedediah and I understand your concerns," Beulah said to the nervous young Black man as she led him to the dining room. Theodore looked at his surroundings and nodded, impressed. Pastor Jedediah Browning and his wife Beulah lived in one of the nicest houses in the Black section of metropolitan Macon, Georgia. Between running the church, and his two restaurants, Pastor Jedediah Browning does fairly well for himself. Theodore, who was raised by the system, has to work three jobs just to pay for his studies at Morehouse College and keep a roof over his head. How the other half lives...
"Sir, ma'am, I like both girls and guys, but I want to focus only on the gals and be cured of my interest in men," Theodore said to Jedediah and Beulah as he dined with them. Jedediah and his wife Beulah exchanged a look. Theodore was impulsive, like a lot of young Black men his age, and he didn't mince words. Jedediah felt a lot of sympathy for Theodore because he went through the same thing when he was his age. The world needs to stop penalizing Black men for their sexuality, whether the Black men in question identify as Heterosexual, Bisexual, or Homosexual. Black men have enough problems to deal with...
