Lavender marriage

Rare card · No. 20026

A lavender marriage is a male–female mixed-orientation marriage undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatized sexual orientation of one or both partners. The term dates from the early 20th century and was used almost exclusively to characterize certain public celebrities' marriages in the first half of the 20th century, primarily before World War II, when public attitudes made it almost impossible for an openly queer person to pursue a public career, notably in the Hollywood film industry. The phrase appears in print at least as early as 1991, but lavender's association with homosexuality dates to the 1920s, described as the decade when "The lavender marriage seems to have come into its own in Hollywood".

Read on Wikipedia · Image Katharine Cornell and the Playwrights' Company; Vandamm Studio, photographer, Public domain