THE LIFE SHE WAS BORN TO LEAD

VALERIE LOVE & SE Á N M C MAHON

Carmen at her famed Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge at 86 Vivian Street, Wellington, in the 1970s. Peacock feathers, trinkets, photographs and posters of dancers adorn the wall in the background.

DESCRIPTION Signed photograph of Carmen Rupe at Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge, Wellington, 1970s

MAKER / ARTIST Photographer unknown

REFERENCE PA-Group-00255: PAColl-9445-10

Carmen Rupe (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Heke-a-Wai; 1936–2011) was Aotearoa’s most highprofile drag queen entertainer and transgender advocate. She was also a sex worker, entrepreneur and successful businesswoman during the 1960s and 1970s.

Born in 1936 in Waimiha, near Taumarunui, and assigned male at birth, Rupe realised from a young age that her perceived gender didn’t match who she was. She left school at the age of 15 and in 1953 moved to Auckland, where she became part of the local gay social scene. One of her earliest drag performances was at an event during her compulsory military service.

In 1959, Rupe moved to Sydney. She worked at various Kings Cross clubs as both a showgirl and a sex worker—she was the first Māori drag queen performer in Australia. In Sydney, she vowed never to wear men’s clothing again. However, both homosexuality and sex work were illegal in Australia at the time, and she suffered regular harassment and abuse from the Australian police. In 1968, she changed her legal name to Carmen and moved back to Wellington. Here, her entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore, and she opened and ran a number of highly successful cafés, entertainment venues and brothels.

Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge in Wellington was her best-known café and sex club, and attracted a wide clientele. The Coffee Lounge, with its exotic décor and teadrinking etiquette (to indicate your sexual preferences), cemented Rupe’s notoriety and public profile. The venue featured an elaborate system of doors and stairways, so clients could escape more easily if there was a raid. Such was her fame that she ran (unsuccessfully) for the Mayor of Wellington in 1977.

In 1979, Rupe moved back to Sydney to pursue her business interests, and she lived there until her death in 2011. She donated her personal collection of photographs and papers to the Turnbull in 2008.

Throughout her life, Rupe was an advocate of gay and transgender rights, safe-sex practices and (latterly) HIV awareness, and she supported charities and aided community groups associated with the sex industry. This was during a period when social mores in both New Zealand and Australia were conservative and legislation criminalised sexual activities between men and discriminated against sexual activities between women. Cross-dressing was not illegal, but it was frowned upon and considered lewd and offensive behaviour. Dressed in glamorous ball gowns, Carmen Rupe swept all this aside as she pursued the life and career she felt she was born to lead.