Drag show in Victoria brings ‘underrepresented’ senior 2SLGBTQIA+ community to life

A retirement home is hosting the biggest drag show yet in Victoria, with the aim of creating an inclusive, supportive community, an organiser says.

On July 16, residents, families and care partners will gather at Amica Jubilee House for a ’50s and ’60s vintage-themed drag show. Special guests include Canada’s Drag Race season 3 finalist Vivian VanderPuss and local drag queens including Anya Mar – performed by Maxence Arignon, director of community relations at Amica Senior Lifestyles.

“LGBTQIA+ seniors are more likely to be isolated and underrepresented in queer communities, which creates innate fears about accepting who they are when they enter a nursing home,” Arignon said. “This makes it critical to emphasize why Pride is important in senior care. By creating meaningful senior programs and events like this, the staff at Amica Jubilee House aims to educate its residents and ensure they are in an inclusive, supportive senior community where they are not afraid to be themselves.”

Gay resident John Bowes moved to Amica Jubilee in December 2023, after moving to Victoria from Chicago about two years ago. Bowes will be attending, but admits that when he saw the poster for the event, he was skeptical that it would work.

“Would anyone come, especially in a retirement home?” Bowes asked.

His experience shows that older people generally talk less openly and modestly about their sexuality.

“I think a lot of older people are harking back to the early days of gay people not really coming out. And the older they get, the more that can be a tendency,” Bowes said. “(Being gay) was almost like a prison sentence for some of us.”

Bowes’ first marriage was a heterosexual one, which he attributed to growing up and feeling like he had to be someone he wasn’t. He never came out to his parents directly and recalls being harassed by a few people later in life when he was openly gay as a college professor.

His second marriage was to a homosexual partner. They were married for 36 years, until his partner died last summer.

He’s not sure how many gay seniors live in the complex, but he’s looking forward to the drag show as a chance to meet more like-minded people.

“I suspect there are a fair number of queers walking around here. But my gut feeling is that the closet door is still there,” Bowes said.

He agreed with the sentiment behind the event, namely that LGBTQ seniors are often underrepresented in queer communities. Being from Chicago, he found it difficult to find a gay community here in Victoria.

“I think that’s as much the fault of aging queer people as it is the balance of the community. I think it’s largely been a youthful endeavor, so when you’re on the other end of the age spectrum, it’s uncharted territory.”

Arignon, director of community relations, could understand Bowes’ doubts about the event’s reception at the residence, but also expressed his support.

Arignon has been a drag queen for over ten years and has performed with Amica in drag shows for the past two years, the first time being at Amica’s home in West Vancouver.

“And we were really nervous and cautious, as was John, about how that would go. And in fact, many (residents) said it was the best entertainment they had seen all year. There were a good 50 to 100 people there,” Arignon said.

The show at Amica Jubilee will be the first in Victoria and will be the largest drag show Amica has ever done. To increase support, Amica has extended an invitation to employees of the local hospital and put out a call to all private seniors’ residences in Victoria to invite queer residents.

“Because, like John, I’m curious about how many others are out there and maybe an event like this can bring a few people out of nowhere,” Arignon added. “Ultimately, I think it’s important for everyone, and especially John, to know that Amica is not going to let the decisions, the opinions of a few backward people dictate the kind of entertainment and celebration that we do at Pride for our gay and queer residents.”

The HIV epidemic has led to many deaths among older homosexuals and is one of the reasons why there are not many homosexual seniors left, Arignon explains.

“But in 20 or 30 years, we’re going to see a commensurate explosion of gay seniors.”

For Arignon, this event, which was created in partnership with Victoria Pride Society, is an important sign of respect. The funds raised will be used to create programs to support queer seniors in Victoria, whether that’s by pairing them with younger queer people to be companions in communities like this, or by creating meeting points for queer seniors to come together across Victoria.

“It’s really a shame that we almost turn our backs on our queer elders, just because we’re a very youth-focused community,” Arignon said. “One of the reasons we’re doing this is because as a younger gay man, I feel an immense responsibility to thank people like John who fought their whole lives so that I could be alive and visible and free. We can take care of them like the heroes that they are.”