Why is Casino Royale’s Vesper Lynd such a queer icon? Perhaps it’s because she does such a good job of keeping a secret, one she gets to reveal to the world on her own terms. But the original script shows that this wasn’t always the case…

James Bond dies! (in more ways that one)
James Bond gets married! (for convenience)
James Bond turns Japanese! (and is actually quite happy until he’s dragged back to ‘normal’ life against his will)
Also: more phallic objects than you can shake a stick at (oh behave!)

When I was interviewed for The A.V. Club’s Why We Love - Pride Edition series, I shared publicly for the first time many of the ideas about Bond that had been going around in my head for years. Here is the full, unedited interview.

Bond has gravitas (and gravity) again after the out of this world adventure of Moonraker. But being back down to Earth doesn’t mean we have to jettison the camp and the queer completely. And Margaret Thatcher gets chatted up by a parrot. Take that Section 28!

Spencie d’Entremont is proud to describe herself as a trans Bond girl and nobody does it better than her when it comes to Bond girl fashion. We had a long talk about our favorite Bond girls, why she found them so inspiring when she was transitioning and what it would be like to have a trans person finally take a leading role in a Bond film.

When Cameron Scheetz from The A.V. Club emailed me out of the blue to invite me to contribute to a new documentary series he was putting together for Pride Month I jumped at the chance to spread the word: QUEER BOND FANS EXIST.

Bond’s first queer director creates a masterpiece in which 007 gets a new face, goes undercover as a gay genealogist and finally takes a woman up the aisle. But his happiness is, perhaps inevitably, short-lived.

Brosnan’s opening mission ends with the death of his best buddy. But unbeknowst to him, the object of his bromantic affections isn’t really deceased: he’s just watching from the shadows. Will Bond manage to stay Onatopp of things? Will he leave it up to a Russian computer programmer to save the day while he runs off to have a messy break up with his best mate? And will we ever get to the bottom of why 007 spends so much time hanging around in men’s bathrooms?

Like a bottle of Phuyuck ‘74, The Man With The Golden Gun has aged… interestingly. Officially, 007 is hot on the pursuit of (*checks notes*) something-to-do-with-solar-energy. But the real drama is whether Bond will be able to save his fractured masculinity in a ‘mano a mano’ duel to the death with Francisco Scaramanga.

If it’s true that books we read as children influence us for the rest of our lives, then Thunderball, which I first read when I was eight years old, has a lot to answer for.

Is there ever a good reason to shake a Martini? Bond only does it to disguise his fragile masculinity. Here’s how to make a beautifully clear Martini which shows you have nothing to hide…