TikTokers are lending a helping hand at lavender weddings, but what does it mean?
2025-01-23 13:31:36
TiranaPost
Historically, a 'lavender marriage' referred to an ostensibly heterosexual union between a man and a woman where one or both parties were secretly part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Designed to hide sexual orientation at a time when discrimination was even more severe, today it has taken on other dimensions as a phenomenon and has been transferred to TikTok. The term was originally born with the rise of Hollywood when homosexual celebrities married each other to hide their orientation.
Today, Gen Z in particular is having these TikTok-assisted lavender weddings, and not just to hide their orientation. The reasons today are financial security and tax relief for singles.
In other words, a lavender marriage is a fake marriage.
In September, TikToker Robbie Scott was among the first to start the trend when he announced that applications were now open to be his lavender wedding partner. “I can be your husband, I can be your wife, I can be your dog, I can be whatever you want me to be,” he said in the video.
"All you have to do is marry me so I can afford to pay a mortgage, utilities, and taxes, that's it. You can hook up with whoever you want, whenever you want. In fact, I encourage you to do so."
Lavender wedding, then and now
So how did lavender weddings go from a 20th-century survival tactic to a 2020s TikTok trend?
“Historically, lavender marriages have been a strategic way for LGBTQIA+ individuals to hide the sexual orientation of one or both partners in order to access some of the privileges of heterosexual marriage, including legal protections, economic security, and social stability,” explains therapist Casey Tanner.
Generation Z has adapted this term to describe partnerships in which the conventional romantic and sexual components of the relationship are less important than financial security and mutual support.
