By Anon Y. Mous
First of all, I might need to explain what micronationalism is. Essentially, it’s a small, self-declared country or state. To be a country all you need is a defined territory, a population, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Some of the more famous ones include; Hutt River Principality, the Principality of Sealand, Ladonia and Molossia.
Perhaps you have heard of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea. Well if you haven’t, a bunch of queer people formed their own kingdom in the Coral Sea, following former Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s ban on marriage equality. What you probably haven’t heard of is the little micronation down the road that’s even more queer. A micronation of which I have been the Foreign Minister of since late 2010.
My queer adventures in micronationalism starts with me coming out about my sexuality, which was universally accepted at the time.
What has not been accepted by a large chunk of the micronational community is that members, including myself, are transgender. Wether that means we identify as transmen, transwomen, or a non-binary people.
The fact that some of the more, so called, “progressive” micronations and micronationalists have meted out to transgender people like myself and my colleagues, from both my nation and other nations, is shocking.
Micronationalists such as George II of Atlantium, publicly support things like equal marriage, whilst simultaneously throwing transgender micronationalists under the bus with transmisogynist and transphobic comments toward other micronationalists.
It is particularly shattering to see someone who is so respected in our community to be so shit towards me and my colleagues due to us being transgender. There are others in the micronational community who literally display the same behaviour as trans exterminationist radical feminist (TERFs), who deadname and say the most transphobic and transmisogynist things I have ever heard (yes I’m looking at you microwiki community).
However it’s not all doom and gloom. There have been some really liberating times, like working on the Denton Protocol. This is a pact between certain micronations agreeing to defend queer micronationalists, and in particular, transgender women and non-binary people.
Working with progressive people and states such as the State of Sandus who want a better future, is really rewarding.
At the end of the day I suspect that for many micronations they reflect the society around them, and rather like my state, seek to build a better more queer inclusive society, within themselves and wider society.