[1] His writing was published in many newspapers and publications, including Au Courant, Black/Out, Blackheart, Changing Men, Gay Community News, The Painted Bride Quarterly, Philadelphia Gay News, The Advocate, New York Native, The Body Politic, and The Windy City Times.
Beam had a large network of friends and correspondents which included Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, Essex Hemphill, Daniel Garrett, Sonia Sanchez, and Bayard Rustin.
Inspired by the humanism of the black feminist and lesbian movement, he saw his work as part of a broad effort to "correct" and re-define the reality of race, sex, class and gender in the United States.
[1] Beam was the editor of In the Life (1986), the first anthology of poetry and prose by Black gay men for which he received a Citation from the State House of Rhode Island in 1987 and a Commendation from the City of Philadelphia.
[2] The donation led to the curation, by Steven G. Fullwood, of the center's In the Life archive dedicated to black LGBTQ experiences.