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Licence To Queer
‘To be Bond or to bed him?’
‘To be Bond or to bed him?’

‘James Bond is what every man would like to be and what every woman would like between her sheets’. Over six decades, this assertion has become received wisdom. But it turns out we’ve been lied to the whole time…

Q Division
Q Division

Gavin has seen all the James Bond movies, and Chels hasn't seen any of them. Together, they’re working through the Bond series on their podcast: Q Division. David joins them to decode Diamonds Are Forever.

‘Pretty boy, beware of his heart of gold’
‘Pretty boy, beware of his heart of gold’

Film students from East Sussex have recreated the iconic opening titles to Goldfinger, subverting the presumed-to-be straight male gaze by substituting the buxom female form with a muscled male model.

The Other Fellas
The Other Fellas

In just three years, Licence to Queer readers have raised more than £9000 for charities, including UNICEF, Papyrus - Prevention of Young Suicide and - for 2025 - Prostate Cancer UK.

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

“Homos make the worst killers”

Wint and Kidd are some of the most ‘problematic’ characters in the Bond series - but I’ve loved them since setting eyes on them in Diamonds Are Forever, when I was aged eight. In an effort to work out the root of my unhealthy obsession, I decided to re-read Fleming’s novel and ended up with more questions than answers. Are they even gay? Why is one of them nicknamed ‘Boofy’? And what does my attraction to such horrible characters reveal about me?

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