Marriage of convenience
A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. Cases where those married do not intend to live together as a couple, and typically married only for one of them to gain the right to reside in a country, are considered to be sham marriages. In many cultures, it is usual for parents to decide their adult children's marriages; this is called an arranged marriage.
For the films, see Marriage of Convenience (1960 film) and Marriage of Convenience (1966 film).Homosexuality[edit]
Another common reason for marriages of convenience is to hide one partner's homosexuality in places where being openly gay is punishable or potentially detrimental.[6] A sham marriage of this type, sometimes called a lavender marriage,[7] is usually performed to keep the appearance of heterosexuality to prevent negative consequences of LGBT discrimination.[8] Such marriages may have one heterosexual and one gay partner, or two gay partners: a lesbian and a gay man married to each other.[9] In the case where a gay man marries a woman, the woman is sometimes said to be his "beard", while in the case where a lesbian marries a man, the man is sometimes said to be her "merkin".