lavender marriage

From lavender (“gay, homosexual”) +‎ marriage.

lavender marriage (plural lavender marriages)

2. A heterosexual marriage of convenience entered into in the hope of concealing the homosexual sexual orientation of one or both of the spouses.
   • 2020 May 1, Alexis Soloski, “‘Hollywood’ Offers Alternate History, and Glimpses of a Real One”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     [Henry] Willson thwarted tabloid attempts to out [Rock] Hudson as gay and Hudson later married Willson’s secretary, Phyllis Gates, in what was possibly a “lavender marriage” meant to further allay suspicion.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

• beard (“a person who accompanies a gay person of the opposite sex to give the impression of heterosexuality”)
• merkin (“a man who accompanies a lesbian to give the impression of heterosexuality”)

• “lavender marriage n.” under “lavender adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

• lavender marriage on Wikipedia.Wikipedia