Lavender marriage

Lavender marriage is a type of male-female marriage of convenience in which the couple are not both heterosexual and 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.

History

Although there have been a number of prominent lavender marriages in history, the phrase itself came into colloquial use during the 1920s,^{[citation needed]} when the imposition of morality clauses into the contracts of Hollywood actors caused some closeted 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 for Hudson's agent.
• British diplomat Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville-West, who were both bisexual, were monogamous early in their marriage but after the births of their two sons acknowledged their preferences for their own gender and engaged in love affairs.
• American composer Cole Porter, in 1919, married Linda Lee Thomas, a rich divorcee from Kentucky. Thomas was aware of Porter's homosexuality, but since her first husband was reportedly abusive, friends speculate she preferred the idea of a marriage based on mutual respect. Porter also preferred the heterosexual image this offered his budding career. They remained together until her death.

In fiction

Fictional examples include:

• The plot of the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet, which centers around a lavender marriage between two Chinese Americans.
• The 1996 episode of The Simpsons, titled "A Fish Called Selma", in which Troy McClure enters into a lavender marriage with Selma Bouvier to conceal his unusual sexual desire for fish/aquatic animals.
• The Italian-American character Salvatore in the series Mad Men (2007), who entered into a lavender marriage to conceal his homosexuality from the early 1960s Madison Avenue advertising agency around which the series is centered. However his wife did not know of his sexual orientation.
• In the show Samantha Who? (2007-2009), the character Andrea Belladonna agrees to enter into a lavender marriage with gay basketball player Tony Dane.
• In the 2008 Hindi movie 'Fashion', the character Rahul Arora, a gay fashion designer, marries Janet, a heterosexual model, to conceal his sexual orientation.
• The Playboy Club, a 2011 television series on NBC, includes a lesbian Playboy Bunny in a lavender marriage with a gay man. The two are members of the Chicago chapter of the Mattachine Society.

See also

• Alla Nazimova
• Boston marriage
• Doom Book
• Hollywood marriage
• Mariage blanc, an asexual marriage undertaken for the protection of one party
• Mixed-orientation marriage
• Sham marriage