Considering that gays and lesbians are a minority group, they could possibly emulate what other minority groups have successfully done in the past to establish their own distinctive turf where they can become the dominant authority. Some of these examples:
(1) The persecuted Mormons trekked to Utah where they culturally and, for the most part, politically control that state. From this virtually unchallenged and secure base, they have successfully intervened in California politics in funding the Proposition 8 campaign.
(2) Freed slaves from America founded a homeland of their own in Liberia, currently the oldest independent nation in Africa.
(3) Jim Jones and his Temple followers founded Jonestown in Guyana where they attempted to build a cooperative progressive settlement.
(1), (2) and (3) involved distant, unknown or virtually unsettled areas that either other countries or people were not claiming or, in the case of (3) negotiating and obtaining special rights for the Jonestown settlement.
(4) After World War II and the Holocaust, the state of Israel was founded as a safe haven for Jews from anywhere in the world where they could be full citizens in a country that was truly their own. They literally made this desert bloom by establishing a booming, successful, modern society.
There are probably other examples (the Boer republics in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Vatican City, Singapore, Quebec, all come to mind) as well.
In the United States, gays and lesbians have become known for, among other things, “gentrification”(AKA “making the desert bloom”) whereby they have revived and renovated decaying neighborhoods.
Since there are many “failed nation-states” around the world, gays and lesbians could possibly strike a deal with one of them to provide monetary assistance, other types of improvements in return for full guaranteed equal rights, including marriage and large-scale immigration of gays and lesbians within a “gay state”.
One possibility in this category would be Haiti. Physically a tropical paradise, centrally located in the Caribbean, a perfect location and climate for tourism, Haiti is nevertheless an economic basket case facing multiple problems with political unrest, poverty, disease, environmental disasters and hurricanes. Gay money could help transform Haiti.
But for an independent gay nation, there is a practical and achievable though probably not a very probable way to accomplish this. This particular nation would have the full backing of both the United States and the United Nations: Puerto Rico. The initial impetus would have to come from gays and lesbians living in the United States. First a little background.
Puerto Ricans are U. S. citizens. Puerto Rico is currently a commonwealth associated with the United States but it retains the right to become an independent nation at anytime a majority of its citizens vote for that option. The United States would honor the will of the Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Ricans, as U.S. citizens, have the right to move to the mainland United States and become, say, a citizen of New York or Texas or Hawaii and vote in those states. The same right also exists for United States citizens who move to Puerto Rico. In the 1990s, in the case of Puerto Rican nationalist Juan Mari Bras, the U.S. Secretary of State said that after a year of residence, any U.S. citizen could gain Puerto Rican citizenship.
With wealthy gays and lesbians bankrolling a project ranging from housing to employment, gay and lesbian Americans could begin moving to Puerto Rico en masse, thereby becoming eligible to vote for Puerto Rico’s independence.
Naturally many, if not most native-born Puerto Ricans would oppose their island becoming a gay state. But during this “pre-independence” period, confidence-building on both sides could take place….. Puerto Rico could see real economic benefits from gay money and talented new gay citizens while gays could obtain complete equal rights. Puerto Rico could become a world center of culture, tolerance and prosperity while gays can feel totally secure in a country that is also theirs.
One concession, after independence, is that all Puerto Rican citizens must learn Spanish so that Puerto Rico doesn’t become or is considered a “gay colony” or a Palestinian-Israeli conflict exists. After independence is achieved, Puerto Rico’s doors, a la Israel, will be opened to gays and lesbians from all over the world to become citizens.
Needless to say, this suggestion wouldn’t be easy to achieve, but it is within the realm of possibility. Puerto Rico would also be a even more crowded island than it is now but other places, such as Singapore and the Netherlands, have coped.