As a student at Penn, I sang, danced and wrote songs for the venerable (1889) Mask and Wig Club. It brought zero credits, but it was my major. I learned a lot from older graduates and was drawn to topical, political, irreverent musical revues. It took me until the mid-70s to queer my songs. I was especially influenced by lesbian, bisexual and straight women, who inspired me to write what I wanted to write. Gay Name Game (1979) and All-American Boy (1982) brought invitations for me to sing at gay pride events, college campuses, coffeehouses and a memorable one-week gig at a gay bathhouse in Chicago.

In the mid-1980s my attention moved from solo performing to stage musicals. First was Ten Percent Revue (1985), followed by Get Used to It! (1992), both of which had Off-Broadway productions and traveled widely. In 1995, I was commissioned by the New York City Gay Men's Chorus to write a mini-musical to be sung at Carnegie Hall. Later I extended it to a full musical. During the pandemic my husband, John Whyte, and I revised Eleanor and Hick for future productions. I wrote a two-hander, Oscar Visits Walt, revealing what took place during two private visits between Whitman and Wilde. I continue writing and staging cabaret shows. The William Way LGBT Community Center has been my home venue where we've staged more than fifty performances with a diverse variety of talented music-making Philadelphians.

As both a commercial and fine art photographer, B. Proud has exhibited her work in solo and group shows around the globe. She teaches photography at the International Center of Photography in NYC and is an Adjunct Professor of the Photography at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Her current work is a series of socially conscious documentary projects focused on the LGBTQ+ and transgender communities. "First Comes Love," is a traveling exhibition of photographs, stories and video of couples in long-term relationships. It has been exhibited in New York City, Philadelphia, Delaware, Washington state, Washington, DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, Florida, Berlin, Germany and Athens, Greece. "Transcending Love" is a current work in progress and is focused on transgender and gender non-conforming couples across the country in attempt to open hearts and minds to a community deserving of understanding, respect, and basic human rights. Her work is included in the Center for Photography Woodstock, the Weeks Gallery, Jamestown, NY, the Delaware Art Museum, Eastman Kodak, Haverford College, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and private collections.

As a lesbian photographer with a name like B. Proud, I was destined to become an artist-activist and documentarian of the LGBTQ+ community. My work focuses on the full humanity of the members of the LGBTQ+ community. We are not just Pride Marches in June. We are living, breathing human beings 365 days a year. There is still much bigotry aimed at our very existence, whether through discriminatory legislation or fatal violence. Currently, transgender women of color are disproportionately the victims of such violence. Overall, I am driven by the concept of the "power of one." If my work can change one life, or better yet, save one life I have done my job. If we all speak up, if we are all allies for each other, we can move mountains. The path to our complete freedom and full access to human rights lies with our willingness to have conversations. I do that through my photographs, written stories, and films.