When calling drupal_goto I can't seem to successfully pass a querystring along with the url.

below is my call to drupal_goto:
$query = array();
$query['status'] = 'bye';
drupal_goto('admin/store/free_subscription',$query);

Within the called page I output the contents of the $_GET variable using:
dd($_GET);

Below is contents of $_GET:
Array
(
[q] => admin/store/free_subscription
)

Note: it has the q parameter but no status parameter.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

John