Today the world lost legendary transgender performer Carmen Rupe, a bone fide icon of Wellington, NZ (where she once ran for mayor) and Kings Cross, who passed away from kidney failure at 75 years of age.
A true diva, Rupe was known as the Transsexual Queen on her native New Zealand and, after moving to Sydney in the late 1950s, became Australia’s first ever Maori drag performer and was a member of the iconic ‘Les Girls’ performance troupe.
Carmen was an inspirational, barrier-breaking member of the LGBT community and will be missed as a performer and personality by countless people; and at next year’s Sydney Mardi Gras she’ll no doubt be remembered in a tribute with a level of fabulousness worthy of her.
In this short made by filmmaker Lucy Hayes she talks about her life-changing experiences after moving to Sydney’s Kings Cross…
R.I.P.
