INTERESTING FACT
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands (also known as The Gay Kingdom of the Coral Sea) was a micronation established as a symbolic political protest by a group of gay rights activists based in Australia. Declared in 2004 in response to the Australian government's refusal to recognise same-sex marriages, it was founded on Australia's external overseas Territory of the Coral Sea Islands, a group of uninhabited islets east of the Great Barrier Reef.On 14 June 2004, after sailing on a ship named the Gayflower (a reference to the Mayflower), the activists raised the gay rainbow pride flag on Cato Island, and declared the Coral Sea Islands an independent gay and lesbian state.
A memorial plaque on the north eastern tip of Cato Island commemorates this historic event and reads:
On the 14th day of June 2004, at this highest point in the Coral Sea, Emperor Dale Parker Anderson raised the gay rainbow flag and claimed the islands of the Coral Sea in his name as homeland for the gay and lesbian peoples of the world. God Save our King!
Coinciding with the decision to secede from Australian sovereignty, the kingdom's founders drafted a declaration of independence.
Other than the protester inhabitants, the islands of the Coral Sea Islands Territory were uninhabited and the kingdom's independence was not recognised by Australia or any world government. The Coral Sea Islands continued to be recognised as an external overseas Territory of Australia by the United Nations.
On 13 September 2004, the Gay Kingdom declared war on Australia.[
In a scheme similar to Israel's Law of Return, a person was automatically granted permanent resident status and immediately eligible for citizenship in the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands simply by being gay or lesbian.
The kingdom issued its first stamps in July 2006 "with the aim of creating a high and distinctive reputation amongst the philatelic fraternity". The kingdom's website stated that tourism, fishing and philatelic sales were its only economic activities. However, swimming, reef walking, lagoon snorkelling, bird-watching, seashell-collecting, and shipwreck-exploring were all gay government-sanctioned non-economic activities.
The Kingdom was dissolved on 17 November 2017 following the decision made by the Australian people to legalise gay marriage.
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