Beard
From Homolexis Glossary
The term beard
to reflect the disguise of a person’s true identity seems to stem
from the world of gambling, when gamers would use surrogates as
go-betweens to place their bets.
Since the early seventies the word beard has had currency to designate a woman who agrees to date or appear with a gay man, in order to imply that he is heterosexual. In this sense the term is amusingly ironic, since, as a rule only men grow beards. However, a man may serve as a beard for a lesbian.
