infatuated with Buck and Bucky

The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands is a micronation near Australia.  This is their flag:

The Gay Kingdom (as it is colloquially known) was founded in 2004 in protest against Australia’s legal stance against same-sex marriage.

Here are some of their stamps:

They are currently ruled by Emperor Dale I, and their currency is the Pink Dollar.

they have a declaration of independence that talks a bit about gay rights and then just flat out copies the “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” part from the american declaration of independence. and here’s the best part: the founding group actually elected their emperor. he was originally going to be called the “administrator” of a republic. their website, however, says that “upon legal advice, his title was changed to that of Sovereign on the grounds that under Australian law a defacto prince trying to claim his crown cannot be charged with treason”. so they made it a kingdom and he now claims to be a descendent of edward ii.

everything about this is glorious and everyone should know about it.

As previously mentioned, the idea originated at Pride (Brisbane 2003) in reaction to punitive anti-marriage legislation

“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!”

The campsite/capital Heaven was named after the London nightclub

War was declared on Australia in September 2004

The aforementioned stamps were issued in July 2006 “with the aim of creating a high and distinctive reputation amongst the philatelic fraternity”

They were never recognized legally/internationally as a micronation (and in fact Anderson refused to attend a conference in 2010 because they weren’t actually trying to be a sovereign nation)

In Feb 2017, Abetz was objecting to the flag of a “hostile nation” being flown

— Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

So my mom and I, after watching all of Leverage, have been watching Leverage: Redemption. And we're maybe halfway through the first season, and a few episodes ago there was this moment. Brianna's laying out what their latest mark does--she's one of those "health" influencers that sells garbage concoctions to desperate people. Brianna notes that the mark specifically targets women, because, as she says, "Women get misdiagnosed 30% of the time".

And Eliot just very quietly goes "What?"

And it is COMPLETELY unacknowledged. Brianna just continues talking. But. Just. Listen Eliot is my favorite and that "What?" shot a dart into my mind. He did not know that. He is upset that he did not know that. He has just found out that he has a privilege that he didn't know he had. And he is upset because, well, he's Eliot, and it's not right. Hell, his team, his family, is now majority women, and he has a privilege over them.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

it almost got me sobbing, especially the part when Steve Rogers hits the

"Then finish it. 'Cause I'm with you 'till the end of the line"