One category as homepage

I want only post of one category on my homepage. I can do this with:
<?php
if (is_home()) {
query_posts(“cat=-1,-4,-6”);
}
?>

But this gives a couple of issues: when visitors click a read more or comment link, the active state of menu-link disappears. There is no current-menu-parent.
And in the previous-next navigation I also get posts from the other categories.

So I’d like WP to show a specific category as home. I could use a redirect from my domain tot the category, but that is a no-go because of search engines.
Is there a way to make a specific category the homepage, like it is possible to chose a static page as home?