Icons: Carmen Rupe

Carmen Rupe (1936-2011) was an iconic drag queen from New Zealand: an activist, a performer, a would-be politician, and above all, a barrier breaker for the queer community.

We're celebrating Pride Month with Icons: supreme queens of queer culture. Some are household names... others are a little more behind the scenes. All of them have defied social norms and influenced generations of people to be unapologetically themselves.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more.  Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures. 

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Abbey Delk. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. 

Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. We're celebrating Pride Month with icons supreme queens
of queer culture. Some are household names, others are a
little more behind the scenes. All have defied social norms
that influenced generations of people to be unapologetically themselves. Today

(00:26):
we're talking about an iconic drag queen from New Zealand,
an activist, a performer, a would be politician, and above all,
a barrier breaker for the queer community. Let's talk about
Carmen Rupe. Carmen was born on October tenth, nineteen thirty six,
in the rural community of Waimiha And, New Zealand. She

(00:48):
was one of thirteen kids born to Elsie Wilson. From
a young age, Carmen knew her identity did not fit
into the confines of the gender assigned to her at birth.
She grew up dressing in her grand mother's clothes and
performed hula in address at a local celebration. Throughout Carmen's childhood,
her mother, Elsie, was a fountain of support and helped
Carmen find her identity. When she was fifteen years old,

(01:12):
Carmen left school, she entered the queer scene of New
Zealand and started socializing with drag queens. Soon after, she
was enlisted into compulsory military service. It was there that
Carmen started her drag career, entertaining and performing for other soldiers.
After moving to Auckland to work as a nurse, Carmen
began dressing in traditionally feminine clothes full time and entered

(01:35):
sex work. She also worked as a dancer, performing hula,
belly dancing and mime. She dubbed herself Carmen in honor
of the Silver screen icon Carmen Miranda. In the early
nineteen sixties, Carmen was arrested on her way home from
a show under the charge of behaving in an offensive
manner in a public space. In layman's terms, the cop

(01:59):
didn't like that she was dressed in women's clothes while
having a male sex marker on her legal documents, but
when she was brought in front of a judge, they
ruled it was not illegal for men to wear women's clothes.
With that simple ruling, Carmen's case opened doors for trans
folks across New Zealand to dress. However, they wanted without
fearing legal repercussions. Later on, Carmen became likely one of

(02:23):
the first people to have a passport with a dash
under the sex marker rather than an M or an F.
In nineteen sixty seven, she opened Carmen's International Coffee Lounge,
a late night cafe whose second floor functioned as a
sex venue. The interior was decked out and plush rugs
and velvet curtains decorated with faux antiques and turquoise fish tanks.

(02:49):
From six pm to six am, patrons could get tea coffee, sodas, pastries,
and more. Customers would identify their sexual preferences by how
they arranged their teacups and saucers on their tables. Carmen
presided over it all, always made up with big hair
and striking makeup. She kept her employees safe from police

(03:10):
and clients, and hired folks from the queer community to
work in different areas of the establishment. The cafe grew
to be so popular Carmen was able to open up
other coffee lounges across New Zealand. She even opened a
nightclub called The Balcony, which offered an incredible spectrum and
spectacle of nightly shows. Carmen was also well known to

(03:31):
those outside of the LGBTQ plus community for her outspoken
and unapologetic nature. In one nineteen seventy five TV interview,
she sparked outrage after saying she knew at least one
member of Parliament was homosexual and others were bisexual. Lawmakers
were so outraged they ordered her to appear before Parliament.

(03:52):
She did and met the media dressed glamorously all in black.
Just a few months later, she dressed in just a
first stole of the Trentam Races, only to remove it
and appear topless. A photo of her scandalous look made
the rounds on the front page of the Sunday Papers.

(04:14):
Carmen always used her public persona to support the community
she cared for. She did public talks for charity, judged
the Miss New Zealand Drag show, and in one instance,
ran for mayor. Her slogan was get in Behind, and
her platform included legalizing sex work, abortions, homosexuality, and nude beaches.

(04:36):
While Carmen never became mayor, all of her reforms were
eventually instated in New Zealand in nineteen seventy nine, the
lease of the balcony ended. After hosting a huge farewell ball,
Carmen decided to close her business and move to Sydney.
She continued to make occasional guest appearances at clubs and

(04:57):
was a venerated matriarch of the LGBTQ plus community. In
nineteen ninety six, she became a Diva Hall of Fame
recipient and in two thousand and three received a New
Zealand Hero Lifetime Achievement Award. Carmen died of kidney failure
in Sydney on December fifteenth, twenty eleven. She was seventy
five years old. Today, if you travel to Wellington, you

(05:20):
can see an image of Carmen transformed into the pedestrian
crossing lights on Cuba Street. Her legacy lives on all
month We're talking about Icons. For more information, find us
on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to

(05:42):
Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to
you tomorrow