“First Comes Love: Portraits of Enduring LGBTQ Relationships,” an exhibit depicting the real lives of LGBT couples, will come to the Stonewall National Museum beginning on Friday, Nov. 10 through Dec. 11.

Barbara Proud — known as B. Proud for short — created the project following the passage of Proposition 8, which took away the right for same-sex couples to marry in California.

“I began a quest that would celebrate the long-term relationships in the LGBTQ community, the ‘marriages’ that in essence but not in rights, already exist,” said B. Proud. “Recently, my work has taken a new route, one of social documentary, as I seek to share what I see as injustices in our world.”

With her new social documentary, Proud aims to educate people outside of the community in addition to celebrating these relationships and providing a historical record.

Proud and her exhibit have traveled the country from Seattle to Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia and beyond, where she hopes “people would learn to understand us more and therefore foster acceptance.”

The exhibit comes from her book of the same name — a 148-page collection that includes black and white portraits of 65 different couples, including three widows and widowers.

The couples have been together for as few as 11 years and as much as 61 years, meeting at their freshman orientation in college. One couple even wrote and recorded a song inspired by the project.

Proud funds her own travel and financial expenses, putting her hopes for a second book volume on pause.

“I think (the project has) turned out to be a very historical document,” Proud spoke of the project and book. The significance comes from the people involved — both of the couples from the Proposition 8 case agreed to become a part of the project. In addition, the first same-sex couples married in Washington D.C. and Delaware also participated.

Proud hopes in the future her exhibit “to be in more public places like airports, so people outside of the community can see it.”

As for other projects, Proud hopes she can create a series on trans couples. The photographer wants to look to LGBT rights activist and political figure Sarah McBride for advice, who is “top of (her) list of people to get for inside feelings” on the transgender community.

"First Comes Love has it right: It's the faces and stories of real people that open hearts and minds and pave the way to legal and social change,” said President of Freedom to Marry Evan Wolfson in a press release. “And first comes love – the love that enriches our lives and the love that sparks the passion and commitment to bring the change needed. These beautiful images and stories are not just to look at, they are to be inspired by."

The exhibit begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, with an artist talk by the photographer B. Proud at 7 p.m. Entry is free; however, the museum suggests a $5 donation on entry.

If you go:

First Comes Love: Portraits of Enduring LGBTQ Relationships

Stonewall National Museum - Wilton Manors Gallery

2157 Wilton Drive

Wilton Manors, Florida, 33305

Nov. 10 – Dec. 11