Gold Coast’s LGBTIQ aged care Arcare Parkwood celebrates Mardi Gras 2022
Your heartwarming content for the day – residents at the Gold Coast’s first LGBT+ aged care have celebrated Mardi Gras together in style.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
RESIDENTS at the Gold Coast’s first LGBT+ aged care have celebrated Mardi Gras together in style.
Residents, staff and family were invited to the Mardi Gras drag show at Arcare Parkwood, which became the first LGBTIQ accredited aged care in Queensland last year.
Lifestyle co-ordinator Gary Barrett – who moonlights as drag queen Tia Maria – was the main event on Friday.
“I decided to perform at Arcare Parkwood’s Mardi Gras because the residents enjoy seeing the performances and I want to put a huge smile on their faces,” he said.
“It’s also about celebrating diversity and being inclusive of different views.”
Mr Barrett started as a lip-synch performer in 1997 and entered a Victorian competition where he finished top 10 in the state.
After his performance, two male drag queens invited him to join their show and his drag queen journey began.
Inside city’s darkest day of discrimination
As international conflicts flare up in Australian flashpoints, there’s a reason why the Gold Coast is a place of relative peace. Read how
‘It’s exhilarating’: Watch 93yo Betty’s leap of faith
The great grandmother of 12 treated herself to a heart-pumping birthday present, jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet over Kirra Beach. SEE THE VIDEO