Lavender marriage is a type of opposite-sex marriage in which the spouses do not have the same sexual orientation and have wed to conceal the homosexual or bisexual orientation of one or both spouses. In gay slang, the heterosexual spouse in a lavender marriage is referred to as a "beard" for a wife or, less attested, a "merkin" for a husband.

Although there have been a number of prominent lavender marriages in history, the phrase itself came into colloquial use during the 1920s, when the imposition of morality clauses into the contracts of Hollywood actors caused some homosexual stars to enter into marriages of convenience to protect their public reputations, and preserve their careers. The destruction of the career of MGM actor William Haines, who refused to end his relationship with his male partner Jimmy Shields and enter into a marriage at MGM's direction, was said to have prompted a number of marriages of this type.

While the term is no longer in common usage, rumors suggesting that some high profile celebrity couples marry to conceal the sexual orientation of one or both partners continue to circulate.

Among the couples and individuals who have been reported to have entered "lavender marriages" are:

• Actor Rock Hudson, who, under movie studio pressure and worried about rumors that Confidential magazine was planning to expose his homosexuality, married Phyllis Gates, a young woman who worked in the film studio.
• British diplomat Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville-West, who were bisexual early in their marriage but after the birth of their two sons returned to their original homosexual preferences and engaged in same-sex love affairs.

The plot of the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet centers around a lavender marriage between two Chinese Americans.

In an episode of the Simpsons Troy Mcclure enters into a lavendar marriage with Selma Bouvier to conceal his unusual sexual desire for fish/aquatic animals.

See also

• Boston marriage
• Doom Book
• Hollywood marriage
• Mariage blanc, an asexual marriage undertaken for the protection of one party
• Sham marriage

References

1. Nicolson, Nigel. Portrait of a Marriage. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978.