Lavender Marriage

A Lavender Marriage is a term used to describe a 'cover' marriage entered into in which one or both parties are deliberately seeking to hide their homosexuality by having a heterosexual marriage partner. Sometimes a heterosexual 'partner' of a homosexual, who willingly helps their partner give the impression that they too are heterosexual, is called a 'beard'.

Famous Lavender Marriages

• Rock Hudson, who under movie studio pressure, and worried about rumours that a magazine was planning to expose his homosexuality, married a young woman who worked in the film studio.

• King James I/VI of England/Scotland and Anne of Denmark. James appears to have been bisexual. The couple had eight children. Contemporary Court records speak of rivalries over James' 'male favourites', whom historians have concluded were his homosexual lovers, and whose existence and role caused scandal at the time.