Rodger Streitmatter's Outlaw Marriages

How happy am I that Rodger Streitmatter's new book from Beacon,  Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples [Kindle], features gilded illustrator J.C. Leyendecker and his chiseled boyfriend Charles Beach? And decorator Elsie de Wolfe and Bessie Marbury! If only he could have added Marguerite Yourcenar and Grace Frick to the baker's dozen of more familiar queer couples.

So far reviews have been good to fair, "...absorbingly details the public and private lives of notable same-sex couples, deftly examining affairs, betrayals, and disappointments, as well as the enabling power that the right marriage, recognized or not, provides" and "While his topic is undeniably interesting, journalist Streitmatter adheres to his journeyman's formula too much; however, his book might be a nice gift for just the right couple, for he clearly loves his story." 

Streitmatter's complete list of subjects is:

Walt Whitman & Peter Doyle

Carey Thomas & Mamie Gwinn

Ned Warren & John Marshall

Jane Addams & Mary Rozet Smith

Elsie de Wolfe & Bessie Marbury

J.C. Leyendecker & Charles Beach

Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas

Janet Flanner & Solita Solano

Greta Garbo & Mercedes de Acosta

Aaron Copland & Victor Kraft

Tennessee Williams & Frank Merlo

James Baldwin & Lucien Happersberger

Robert Rauschenberg & Jasper Johns

Ismail Merchant & James Ivory 

Audre Lorde & Frances Clayton