George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham - Champion of Religious Liberty.

I always find it hysterical that the most pernicious homophobes of the Christian Right almost invariably have their King James Version of the Bible firmly in their hands as they rant and condemn gays. That version of the Bible was edited by a group assembled by King James I of England (pictured at left) who was notorious for his various boyfriends, one of whom was the 1st Duke of Buckingham. The mentally untethered homophobes always have the vapors and go into near convulsions of denial when confronted with the fact that their beloved version of the Bible was edited under the auspices of a flaming queen. It was said by his contemporaries that it was said of him that Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen (Rex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Jacobus). The historical truth is that it was James I who convened the Hampton Court Conference for the purpose of resolving issues with Bible translations then being used in England. Talk about divine justice.

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In any event, Patricia Nell Warren has a wonderful piece at The Bilerico Project that looks at not only how the Dukes of Buckingham received a great deal of their fortune - i.e., as gifts from King James I to his lover, the 1st Duke - but also the role the 2nd Duke played in the push for religious liberty in Great Britain throughout the turmoil of the overthrow and then restoration of the British monarchy. It is a long post but one that is worth the read for history lovers. Here are a few highlights:

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Seldom do LGBT historians have the chance to write about pre-1800 historical figures whose orientation was clearly non-hetero. Even more seldom do we dwell on bisexuals, since bisexuality is such a divisive political issue with some of us. So I can't let our History Month pass without a hat tip to a bisexual of the 17th century -- He haa statesman who helped establish a radical new idea called "religious liberty" in both Olde England and the brand-new United States. I'm referring to George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.s been described as "one of the most scandalous and controversial figures of the Restoration."

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As I researched the Duke's many-faceted life, I was surprised to note the passion for religious liberty that dominated the final years of his life. George Villiers forged a powerful connection with the Quakers, and made some major public efforts to stop persecution of Quakers and other dissenters by an Anglican-dominated Parliament. The great Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, was a friend of Villiers. Indeed -- Penn and his ideas about tolerance and democracy might not have made it to America if he hadn't been championed by the Duke of Buckingham.

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George inherited the greatest family fortune in England -- and a family history that was already notorious for its sexual nonconformity. His father, the 1st Duke of Buckingham, had dared to be openly gay in the early 1600s -- though married and a father, he was also the beloved "favorite" and "wife" of King James I for more than a dozen years. Indeed, the 1st Duke was so hated by English puritans that, after James Stuart died and was no longer there to protect him, the 1st Duke was assassinated in 1628. Young George's sister Mary Villiers became a bold proto-feminist figure at court, with her fondness for dueling and men's clothes, and some lesbian-themed poetry that has been attributed to her.

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George had progressive views on many issues. He was sympathetic to the Quakers, whose pacifism and simple approach to spiritual things were appealing to him. Hundreds of Quakers were being imprisoned, tortured and hung for their refusal to kowtow to Anglican demands. For George, the core issue was coercion -- the willingness of a ruling religious elite to force its beliefs on their subjects by any and all means necessary. Admiral Penn's son William -- a brilliant, charismatic, highly educated young man -- had emerged as a Quaker convert and leader. Young Penn had become a friend of George's, and shared his horror of coercion.

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When Penn was arrested for the illegal act of preaching a Quaker sermon in public, he spent 14 months in solitary confinement in the Tower of London. From his freezing jail cell, he sent a message to King Charles saying, "The Tower was the worst argument in the world to convince me; for whoever was in the wrong, those who used force for religion never could be in the right."
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By 1674, Parliament aimed to destroy the political influence of that dangerous new advocate of religious liberty, the Duke of Buckingham . . . Since George had a cat-like ability to land on his feet, he rebounded as leader of something unheard-of in English history -- an opposition party that openly advocated religious freedom. . . .

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In 1675 the Duke kept a promise he'd made to William Penn and introduced a bill in Parliament that would stop persecution of Quakers and other sects. George's bill was scuttled. But England had now decided to get rid of the troublesome Quakers in a less bloody way -- by letting them emigrate to the New World. Now the shiploads of persecuted minorities -- not just Quakers but Huguenots, Mennonites, Amish, Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews -- began streaming to the new colony. William Penn boarded ship with them.

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But by 1678, the Duke of Buckingham was in deeper trouble, as England veered into a national hysteria over something called the "Popist plot." . . . Buckingham's enemies tried to implicate him in these alleged conspiracies. They charged that George had committed sodomy with a young Popist conspirator named Philip Le Mar. . . . Eventually the charges were dropped. On May 21, 1680, George was freed from the Tower for the last time.

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Later that year [1685] , from his stable door, hoping to inspire the new king to a public display of greater tolerance, the Duke fired one last cannon shot at the church establishment. He published a pamphlet titled "A short Discourse on the Reasonableness of Man's having a Religion." In it he asked this question: "whether there be anything more directly opposite to the doctrine and practice of Jesus Christ, than to use any kind of force upon men, in matters of religion?" In short, he accused those who used force of being anti-Christian.

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Buckingham's pamphlet went viral around the country and stirred up a firestorm of discussion. Ten other political writers weighed in, and a pamphlet war was on. William Penn -- ever the Duke's loyal friend -- was back in England on Quaker business and he bravely went to George's rescue, when he published his own "Defence of the Duke of Buckingham's Book of Religion & Worship."

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The new King thumbed his nose at Parliament by staging a magnificent state funeral for the Duke. George joined his gay father and his college love Abraham Cowley among the quiet tombs of Westminster Abbey.

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That Buckingham Legacy

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Villiers' pamphlet may have circulated into colonial Virginia as well [asPennsylvania]. There, many royalist refugees had settled during the English Civil Wars -- including some of the Fairfaxes and the Washingtons, two old Yorkshire families that were closely related to the Villierses. Virginia's own Buckingham County is said to have been named after the Duke. General Washington himself, who was something of a churchgoer but also a staunch Freemason, had strong feelings about religious liberty and made blunt statements about the evils of coercion. Writing to Jews in Rhode Island in 1790, our first President said: "The Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens."

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[A]long with the right to religious liberty, the other thing that George [Villers] was clear about -- and that today's LGBT community is also clear about -- is the right to live your life somewhere outside the pale of heterosexual conformism.

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Would that the modern day equivalents of the despotic Church of England leaders of Villers' time would follow George Washington's views on religious freedom. It is more than ironic that as I sit typing this post within a mile of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia is faced with the propect of perhaps electing far right Republicans who reject the concept of religious freedom for all citizens to the offices of Governor and Attorney General. Jefferson and Washington must be rolling over in their graves. Personally, I find it most troubling.