Beard (companion) - Concealing Sexual Orientation

Concealing Sexual Orientation

Recognized usage of "beard" applies to a person who serves to camouflage another's sexual orientation. An example is the woman a gay man pretends to date in an effort to conceal his sexuality. Though beard entered wider use in the 1960s, many of the reported lavender marriages of 1920s in Hollywood, and the similar reported romantic marriage of Rock Hudson (mid-1950s) employed the same usage. In Hudson's case, Phyllis Gates acted as his beard, to avert the perceived damage that the disclosure of Hudson's homosexuality might have on his career.