Celebrating with pride - FREE TO BE ME

MARDI GRAS INSPIRED TERESA AND MICHAEL TO CREATE A COMMUNITY

When best friends Teresa Leggett and Michael Gardiner take to their Mardi Gras float this year, it will mark 20 years since they first attended one of the biggest LGBTQIA+ festivals in the world.

The annual Sydney event means a lot more than just feathers and fun to them - it's an opportunity for the pair to reflect on how the community parade has helped them navigate tough times in their lives.

Teresa and Michael used to be husband and wife. Then, after a decade of marriage, Michael, 53, realised he was gay.

"I think I knew before he did," Teresa, 49, tells New Idea. "I asked him a million different ways if there was anything he wanted to tell me, but he wasn't really sure what was going on with himself." Michael agrees, saying, "I grew up in a very conservative family; there was no such thing as gay people in my family." The couple eventually split, but Michael was still coming to terms with his sexuality and hadn't yet come out to his family.