This new column will look at queer contributions to culture and art throughout the ages, and what better way to start than with the ultimate of all contributions to mankind, the Bible.

Did you know that the good book was commissioned by a big poof? Well, not the original version; but certainly what’s thought to be the most glorious translation.

The King James Bible was commissioned by King James I (also known as King James VI of Scotland) in 1611. It’s more poetic than previous bibles, and many scholars herald it as a masterpiece of Jacobean prose. In fact, the King James Bible is the most popular translation in existence, and so we think it most ironic that it was commissioned by a sodomite.

It was noticed early in his life that the young monarch had little interest in women. This became especially clear when he fell in love with Esme Stuart, his male cousin. Indeed, James was so open about his love for his Esme that the running joke became ‘Long live Queen James’.

Normally, falling for your cousin would n’er have raised an eyebrow in 16th century Britain, but having the hots for your same-sex cousin was another story. Needless to say things ended badly for Esme, and once exiled he never saw the King again.

The young Robert Carr was the next notch on the King’s belt. Again, so open was James with Robert that it was remarked: “The king leans on his [Carr’s] arm, pinches his cheeks, smoothes his ruffled garment, and when he looks upon Carr, directs his speech to others.”

Carr, who was bisexual, fell for the Countess of Essex, Frances Howard, and eventually married her. The King was married too; but while this union was not based on love, the King and his wife did have seven children.

Like all the King’s male lovers, Carr met with tragedy: he was imprisoned, along with his wife, for murder; but eventually pardoned by the King. King James, as they say, had obviously moved on.

Handsome and devoted George Villiers, the Earl of Buckingham, came into the King’s life in 1614 and would stay with him until the day James I died in 1625.

In a speech to the Privy Council, King James said: “I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man, like any other. Therefore I act like a man and confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George.”

As I said, it’s with great irony that the book that has been and is still used to repress and condemn homosexuals was brought to us by one of our very own.