PHILADELPHIA, PA- Photographer B. Proud, author of First Comes Love: Portraits of Enduring LGBTQ
Relationships, will discuss her book with Scott Duff of OUT CHICAGO radio on February 11th, 2016 at 7pm at Women & Children First Bookstore. Released in the fall of 2014, First Comes Love, according to Philadelphia photographer B. Proud, includes a glimpse into the real lives of the LGBTQ community, unlike the rainbow flag images typically portrayed by mainstream media. Books will be on sale after the presentation, and both B. Proud and will be available to sign. Photo booth courtesy of B. Priddy Photography. Valentine treats from The Swedish Bakery.
Admission is free.
This coffee table book is just one element of the First Comes Love Project, a traveling exhibition of photographs, love stories and video interviews documenting LGBTQ couples who have been together for 10, 20, 30, 40, and even 50+ years.
Prior to the most recent marriage equality decision, a copy of this book was sent to each of the 9 Supreme Court justices.
"This book and project," says B. Proud, "began when my partner and I celebrated our 20th anniversary and thereby became the longest surviving couple in our families and then Proposition 8 passed. I decided to use my art and voice to tell the real story of our community. Having Edie Windsor as one of the participating couples and the author of the foreword is a real honor and makes this project one of the most historical collections of the modern LGBTQ movement."
This gorgeously produced book of black and white portraits and accompanying stories of 65 couples, includes Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, both of the Proposition 8 couples, Bishop V. Gene Robinson, original "gay pioneers" Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen, Annise Parker, the Mayor of Houston, and her spouse Cathy, the first couple married in Washington, DC and many more intriguing stories of our lives. Self-published under her own imprint of Soleil Press, B. Proud determined that acceptance of couples in the LGBTQ community would only come through understanding and not solely through the changing of the marriage laws. This book is her personal labor of love to help make that a reality.
B. Proud is commercial and fine art photographer and an adjunct associate professor at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
"First Comes Love has it right," says supporter Evan Wolfson, President of Freedom to Marry. "It's the faces and stories of real people that open hearts and minds and pave the way to legal and social change."
"First Comes Love is more than a book of beautiful photography, it's an essential document," says fellow endorser, HRC President, Chad Griffin. "It testifies to a moment in history that all of us made possible and none of us will ever forget—when our community left the closet for good, and equality finally became a mainstream American value."
For more information about the author, contact B. Proud via email at bproud@firstcomeslove.org or 302-545-6570.
To order the book or learn more about the project, visit www.firstcomeslove.org
