nations (grow your own)

photos taken from the exhibition "Grow your Own" by Peter Coffin at the Palais de Tokyo, site de création contemporaine, Paris, 2007 _ http://www.palaisdetokyo.com

If you're unhappy with your country, why not just start a new one? This seems to be the logic underlying "Grow your Own", Peter Coffins' exhibition about micronations currently on show at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris).
On display are the flags and other paraphanalia (coins, paper money, badges, ribbons, national anthems, constitutions...) of forty-something micronations, there defined as "countries (often without territories) conceived by artists, eccentrics, malcontents or egocentrics"*. One can find a brief history and statement of intent of each nation as well.
One micronation which I find particularly interesting, but which was not included in the exhibition, is the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands (GLK).
Here, one can imagine to find a rainbow striped flag dancing to voices wailing the kingdom's national anthem, "I am what I am" by Gloria Gaynor, the authors of the GLK's official information site write with a wink. But underneath this "gay" humor, you understand that the reason that compelled the gay community to start their sovereign independent nation is far from a joke.
The GLK was established in an act of political protest by gay rights activists in 2004. Due to recurring violence suffered by the gay community in Australia, and law amendments not recognizing homosexual marriage, the gay community decided to raise it's rainbow flag in the uninhabited islands off of the continent's east coast and demand independence from the Australian Monarchy (by declaring war). Since the continent ignored the threat, independence was granted by default.
* information on the exhibition "Grow your Own" and a downloadable pdf on the histories of the micronations featured in the show can be found here
** information on the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands can be found here and their blog is here (thanks for the heads up, Nick)