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Licence To Queer covers queer aspects of Bond books, video games and more. Search here for your favourite titles and characters or find content related to particular queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc).

David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Queer re-view: Quantum of Solace

An unsettling and emotionally truthful queer parable, the direct continuation of Casino Royale teaches us that finding ourselves is a painful ongoing process, not a one off event. The film delivers its lesson like a brick through a plate glass window. Cutting quickly (too quickly for many) and deeply (Octopussy this ain't!), most of the svelte running time is a setup for a showdown with Bond's most persistent and insidious enemy: himself.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Boom Bang a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Bond and the Eurovision Song Contest overlap more than you might think. One is loud, glamorous, camp and massively popular with the gays. And then there is Eurovision.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Lustring on: restoring the critical sparkle of a 50 year old classic

I’m never one to avoid flying in the face of convention so I make no secret of my love for Diamonds Are Forever and I’m always eager to proselytise in its favour. To mark the release of surely the film’s most detailed review ever on the Really, 007! podcast, I take a look back at the wavering reputation of this unfairly maligned gem and the reasons behind this changeability.

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Läne Bonertz Läne Bonertz

We all have our secrets: the ‘other’ song of No Time To Die

Billie Eilish’s title song is not the only tune with a starring role in Craig’s final outing. Although this news has been overlooked in English-speaking media, the film prominently features a song from an artist whose own life of glamour mixed with sadness attracts legions of French-speaking gay fans. Queer Bond fan and Sexuality Studies graduate Läne Bonertz dissects how the song perfectly complements the ‘othered’ world of 007 and considers how its inclusion could foreshadow the fates of No Time To Die’s characters.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

A bevy of Bond Boys

When I invited Licence to Queer readers to imagine Bond 26 featuring the first Bond Boy, I did not expect such imaginative - and entirely feasible - ideas. I asked you to be bold and you more than delivered. Here are your suggestions. Expect Good Boys, Bad Boys turned Good and suggestive names that might make even Bond blush.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Things were about to turn nasty?

For many of us, Timothy Dalton’s third Bond film is the most tantalising ‘what if?’ of the franchise. Targeted for a 1992 release, we all know it wasn’t to be. But what isn’t so well known is a TV drama that Dalton made at this time which gives us a glimpse of how a darker, queerer Bond 17 might have turned out had he stayed in the frame.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

A year of Licence to Queer!

What better way to celebrate LTQ’s first anniversary than by planning Bond 26 - with a Bond boy at its centre! I’m giving away a copy of the new book The James Bond Lexicon to the person who comes up the best actor, character name and meet cute.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Queer re-view: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

The better part of three decades has passed since Austin Powers first appeared on our screens, the amount of time which Austin and his nemesis, Dr. Evil, were frozen. Has time been kind? Is Powers still groovy? Does he swing or leave us unmoved? Is he the free-spirited antithesis of Bond (as a prolific 007 director claimed) or is he actually just a bit too well behaved?

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Jack Bell Jack Bell

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend: A Queer Appreciation of Tiffany Case

There’s much more to Miss Case than meets the eye, regardless of whichever hair piece she happens to be wearing at any given time. Jack Bell takes Tiffany’s own advice and keeps it original, finding fascinating new insights into the character and the actress who brought her to indelible life: Jill St. John.

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