LGBT Civil Rights and Activism

There have been several famous celebrities who are in a mixed-orientation marriage, including:

Anne Heche married Coleman Laffoon after breaking up with Ellen DeGeneres. She told The Advocate in 2001, "I have been very clear to everybody that just because I'm getting married does not mean I call myself a straight."

Julie Cypher married Matthew Hale after breaking up with Melissa Etheridge.

Margaret Cho is married to Al Ridenour and identifies as queer.

Anthony Perkins married Berry Berenson. He had previous relationships with Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and dancer-choreographer Grover Dale, but underwent therapy after meeting Victoria Principal.

Cole Porter, who was described as "an openly closeted gay man,"was married to Linda Lee Thomas. Their marriage was the subject of Night and Day, but his sexuality was ignored. A later film, De-Lovely, dealt more openly with his sexuality.

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day married Adrienne Nesser in 1994 and together they have two children. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, he said "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in."

Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd, but may have had significant sexual relationships with Frank Miles, Robert Baldwin Ross, and Lord Alfred Douglas.

Little Richard was married in 1959 and his biography, The Life and Times of Little Richard, details his involvement with homosexuality.

Andrea Dworkin and John Stoltenberg were a lesbian and a gay man who were married to each other and continued to be gay rights activists.

Actress Liza Minnelli's first marriage was to impresario and performer Peter Allen, who was gay.

Painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant lived together for 40 years and had a daughter together, but had a sexual relationship for only a short time, as Grant was openly gay.

Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson were married for over 40 years and had two sons together, although both were homosexual. Their younger son Nigel wrote the book Portrait of a Marriage about his parents' relationship.

The love between writer Lytton Strachey and artist Dora Carrington is the subject of the film Carrington (1995). Although Strachey was openly gay, the two lived together for many years, and Carrington committed suicide upon Strachey's death from cancer, unable to live without him.

Poet Kathleen Raine had an enduring deep relationship with gay naturalist and writer Gavin Maxwell; she famously cursed him by wishing him to suffer as she had suffered from her love for him.

Adrian, a costume designer, was openly gay, but married Janet Gaynor in 1939. Together they had a son named Robin Gaynor Adrian, born in 1940. They remained married until Adrian's death on March 3, 1959. Though Gaynor later remarried, she and Adrian are buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Megan Mullally married Nick Offerman in 2003. She commented in an interview in The Advocate magazine, "I consider myself bisexual, and my philosophy is, everyone innately is."

Alan Cumming has been married to a woman and then a man. He has identified himself as bisexual.
Alla Nazimova and Charles Bryant (actor) were married from 1912 to 1925, though Nazimova was romantically involved with Eva Le Gallienne, director Dorothy Arzner, writer Mercedes de Acosta, and Oscar Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde.

Mercedes de Acosta was married to Abram Poole, though having several affairs with other women.
Marlene Dietrich was married to Rudolf Sieber. Together, they had one daughter, Maria Elisabeth Sieber

Tamara Karsavina was married to Henry James Bruce.

David Bacon and Greta Keller were married. Keller later said that Bacon was homosexual, and that she was lesbian, and that their marriage allowed both of them to maintain a respectable facade in Hollywood, where they were both attempting to establish film careers.

Guthrie McClintic and Katharine Cornell were both LGB and were married for 40 years.

Artist Frida Kahlo was married to fellow artist Diego Rivera. Both Frida and Diego had multiple affairs, some of Frida's affairs being with women.

Gay pornography actor Jack Wrangler was married to Margaret Whiting from 1994 until his death.

Gay television producer Peter Marc Jacobson was married to Fran Drescher from 1978 to 1999.
Charles Laughton, who was known to be gay during his life, was married to fellow actor Elsa Lanchester from 1929 until his death in 1962.