Photographer B. Proud started her project First Comes Love after the defeat of Prop. 8 in California in 2008. With same-sex marriage now illegal again in that State, the prospects for it been approved in the rest of the U.S. suddenly looked very bleak.  She therefore set about honoring and recognizing same-sex couples who had been relationships that were far longer than most of their ‘straight families’ and in the course of creating this book and exhibition, she met Edie Windsor who would of course go on to be a Plaintiff in a Supreme Court Case that would finally help make gay marriage a reality.

When Edie got engaged to her late wife Dr. Thea Spyer decades ago, they needed to be discreet about their relationship so instead of having a traditional engagement ring, Thea bought Edie a pin that was a circle of diamonds. This story inspired Philadelphia couple Michael Biello and Dan Martin, who have been together 40 years and are one of the couples in First Comes Love, to write a song which B Proud then made into a video.

A Circle of Diamonds stars Edie Windsor herself, and playing young Edie is actress Jillian Louis  currently starring as Diane Chambers in the staged version of NBC’s iconic long-running sitcom, Cheers, in Boston, and young Thea is played by Nicole Van Giesen who was recently in the Tony Award winning musical Fun Home on Broadway.  Music is by Dan Martin and Lyrics by Michael Biello.

 

 

 

P.S. see also queerguru’s interview for PTV with B Proud about First Comes Love https:// queerguru.com/2015/11/first-comes-love