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To view them from the air, there’s not much to the islands—flat strips of land surrounded by azure-hued water, a green blanket of vegetation covering the landscape and a population of birds and turtles resting peacefully on the shoreline. The only visible man-made object is an automatic weather station that sits lonely on the largest of the islets, Cato Island. If you were to see them in a travel brochure, you would probably think of the remote atolls as pleasant albeit isolated pieces of land. But for queer activists, these small islands floating in the Coral Sea off the coast of Northeast Australia have become the flashpoints for the creation of a new gay country.
In 2004, a group of Queensland gay activists in Australia fed up with the government’s rampant anti-gay legislations that included a ban on gay adoptions and marriage, declared that Cato Island be recognized as a gay kingdom. They deemed that the small group of islets be recognized by the world as a safe haven for all gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexual men and women throughout the world. The activists drafted up a constitution and served Australia with a formal secession notice. In order to secure their emancipation from Australia, the founding group named 39-year-old Dale Parker Anderson as the first majesty of the island. The reason for Anderson being crowned was a clever attempt to use an old rule to secure ownership of the island. In Australia, there exists an English common law, which states that anyone assisting a defacto member of royalty to attain his rightful office cannot be charged with treason. Because Anderson can trace his lineage back to King Edward II of England (“the First Gay king of England” according to the group) and to the great, great grandson of one of the members of the mutiny on the Bounty, he could claim to be of royal blood and thus entitled to a piece of land. So, on June 14, 2004, the gay pioneers raised the rainbow flag on the highest peak of Cato Island and proclaimed their independence. They named the spot where the flag was placed Heaven, the new capital city.
But the road to creating a new country is not without its problems. According to Seattle resident and member of the privy counsel, Joe Grande, the Australian government wanted to ignore the Cato Island pioneers. When the activists sent their secession notice to the Prime Minister of Australia and members of the government, “those people actually responded to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Gays and Lesbians of the Coral Sea and by international law, they have tacitly recognized and accepted the organization. It would be interesting to see what happens when this moves onto the international court of justice.” With this victory, Grande believes that recognition of the sovereignty of the gay island is within target. The group has petitioned the United Nations to be recognized as a legitimate country and, if that happens, Grande eagerly awaits seeing the gay flag fly in the UN plaza. However, Grande is quick to point out that the current infrastructure of the island is minimal. Cato itself is not very big. In fact, it is less than three square kilometers wide. “We will never be as big as the Philippines, New Zealand or Fiji. At the most, down the road, we will be seen more of a tourist destination with only a handful of residents.” Currently, the island does not have any roads, sewage or drinking water system, electricity or any buildings for that matter. “People are afraid that there’s going to be condos on the beaches like in Fire Island, Provincetown or Miami, but it’s not going to happen.”
There are some queers who feel that the idea of Gay Island might be construed as a way for queers to cocoon themselves from the rest of society. Developing a country whose aim is to foster immigration by gays, lesbians and transgenders may undermine the fight of activists in their home country. After all, why fight for change in your own backyard if you can feel safe and secure in a country made for and by queers? Grande supports activists fighting for gay and lesbian rights in their country but “what we are saying to the world [is] that it’s about time that we were recognized as equal to everyone else. If you can recognize Communist countries, despots and nasty people and countries in the world that treat people awfully, then we deserve some recognition too.”
Using the same “law of return” as utilized in Israel, anyone who is born queer can immigrate to Cato Island. For $100.00, interested persons can apply for citizenship and a passport indicating your allegiance to the gay kingdom. “You don’t have to be gay. Heterosexuals can apply too. But you must agree to not discriminate against anyone based on sexual orientation and that Dale is the sovereign of the country.” However, don’t expect to use it like any government-issued passport. As of yet, the Gay Kingdom passport is not officially recognized by any country.
Despite having never been to Cato Island, Grande is enthusiastic about the possibility of a gay country. His eyes get dreamy about what lies ahead. “It’s not going to happen over night. It’s going to be a long road. But 36 years after the Stonewall riots, we are looking for the next step. This generation now has a new dream.” Maybe the little islands best known for the mutiny of HMAV Bounty ages ago will be the key to queer independence for the future.
For more info, visit gaykingdom.org.
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