Carmen Rupe: Māori Trans Sex Working Icon

Editor’s Note: Homophobia, transphobia, assault, hate crimes targeting sex workers, queer people and trans people, police violence. 

As you stroll down Cuba Street in the heart of Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, the rainbow capitol of Aotearoa is made all the more flamboyant by a striking green flashing light. Debuting in 2016, this traffic light captures the silhouette of the iconic Carmen Rupe. A trailblazer in her own right, Rupe was a beloved Māori drag performer, trans woman, sex worker, brothel keeper, entrepreneur, anti-discrimination activist— just to name a few of her many hats. Even in death, the light that her larger-than-life, star-like quality cast upon my country has not faded. And it never will. 

Early Life

Born on 10 October 1936, this Libra queen was destined to outgrow her humble beginnings. Spending her early years living on her family farm in Taumarunui, and being of Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hauā and Ngāti Heke; Rupe was immersed in Māori culture. Her family lived in accordance with the Māori maramataka, they commonly conversed in te reo Māori, and her grandmother was an expert weaver of korowai. From a young age she knew she was sexually attracted to men, an aspect of herself she accepted. As well as embracing her takatāpui spirit, she also knew that she did not align with her SAAB (sex assigned at birth). She admired her mother’s beauty, who Rupe described as being “absolutely very beautiful. She was tall and striking.” 

Rupe would spend hours scribbling women’s fashion designs, so much that her mother told her that she should have been a designer. She would often fantasise about being an Old Hollywood starlet. In fact, when she later took on the name ‘Carmen’, it was in reference to Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress Carmen Miranda, who starred in many beloved films from Rupe’s childhood. Her love of dance and ‘women’s’ clothing prompted a 15 year old Rupe to perform a hula in women's dress at an ANZAC Day concert. While she would not debut as Carmen Rupe until her adult life, even as a teenager, Rupe had a strong and unapologetic sense of self. She was not one to let the western conservatism that colonisation had brought to Aotearoa, dim her light. On the day she entered the world, a star was born.

As Rupe entered adulthood, her career pursuits paved the way for her future legacy. She left school at the age 15 to pursue the workforce, operating at the local sawmill, post office, and hotels. But beneath these roles a showgirl was bursting at the seams, eager for applause. When delivering telegrams in her hometown, she knocked on the door of a fortune teller who invited her inside to read her future. The woman told a teenage Rupe two things: “You’re going to leave Taumarunui… the rest of your life is just going to be makeup.” While this was destined to come to fruition, it would still be a few more years until Rupe began presenting as a woman in day to day society. At the age of 20 and still presenting as “male”, it was compulsory for her to serve a 10 weeks military training. During this time she had just begun exploring her queer attraction towards men whilst living in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. She had become enamoured with the queer nightlife of the big city, feeling particularly at home with the local drag queens. These nights out could often end with violence – homophobic hate crimes – making Rupe all the more terrified of being a part of the military. She was no stranger to the violent side of heterosexual men. However, her time in the military would conclude with a drag performance! Receiving a standing ovation from a room full of army soldiers, Rupe performed a lip sync to Eartha Kitt. This experience solidified for Rupe that she belonged on the stage, entertaining the masses and uniting audiences of all walks of life.

Sex Worker & Drag Queen 

Returning to the big city upon completing her military training, Rupe began working as an orderly at the Cornwall hospital in Auckland by day and engaging in full service sex work by night. Some of her clients would pay for her to travel in luxury between Auckland and Sydney, introducing Rupe to the glamorous lifestyle she had fantasised about living through her love of Old Hollywood cinema. Rupe noted that it was through working the dark back streets of Auckland where the Carmen Rupe we all know and love would begin to emerge. One night while laying in bed, she was listening to the song Everybody Loves Saturday Night when she suddenly felt called to move to Kings Cross in Sydney, Australia. She moved to Kings Cross, where she was approached by a man who suggested she work as a male sex worker. No stranger to the sex work industry, she operated out of a brothel while working part time as a waitress. 

It was the 1960s, the city was buzzing with Beatlemania and flower people. The Kings Cross drag and strip club scene was taking off, with iconic nightclubs such as The Jewel Box, The Purple Onion, and Candies becoming popular venues for the creatures of the night to let their freak flag fly. The city came to life around a young Rupe, who knew she couldn’t have arrived at a better time. She was eager for adventure, for glamour, and to step out into the world as Carmen Rupe. She began working as a drag queen and stripper, allowing her Pasifika roots to take centre stage at a club called Latin Quarter. There she would perform the hula dance dressed in drag, a full circle moment calling back to a 15 year old Rupe at an ANZAC day concert. She would also perform acts with live snakes, making her the first Māori drag queen to do so! This was something she was incredibly proud of. She soaked up the queer nightlife, revelling in her feminine expression. With her red lipstick and beauty mark, her dark beehive hair, and pencil thin eyebrows; her beauty was as captivating as her larger than life energy. Glowing like the sun, she enjoyed the attention being Carmen Rupe granted her; especially from white collar men. She loved being taken out on lavish dates and enjoyed fancy hotels and flash cars. She figured if she had it, why not flaunt it? And flaunt it she did!

Audacious, Activist, Diva! 

Despite the glamour, her lifestyle was met with much backlash from the conservative society around her. When traveling to and from these nightclubs, Rupe and her fellow sisters would lay low in the backseats of taxis to avoid being seen by the police. On many occasions, the police would stop the taxi and force the queens to remove their wigs and fake eyelashes, publicly humiliating them. Rupe recalled that during dates with men at the lavish hotels and restaurants she so greatly enjoyed, the police would walk right up to her date and say, “this is a bloke, mate. It’s not a woman.” On both of these occasions, whether being pulled over in a taxi or approached while on a date, the police would take her away and violently assault her. 

Upon returning to Aotearoa in the 60’s, she decided it was time to live as a woman not just on the stage, but in her day to day life. Honing the experience she gained working in Kings Cross, she continued working as a stripper at a Strip-A-Rama on Karangahape Road. She was once again known for her hula dance, as well as the bold and shocking move of removing her wig at the end of her acts to reveal ‘Trevor’. While returning home after a shift at the strip club, Rupe was arrested for ‘behaving in an offensive manner in a public place’ – the ‘offensive manner’ in question being that she was dressed as a woman. However, the bold Rupe did not let this deter her from who she was. When she appeared at the courthouse, the police demanded she go home and put on men’s clothing. She refused, saying, “you caught me dressed as a woman, I’m going to go to court as a woman.” The judge ruled that it was not illegal for men to dress as women, and Rupe never wore men’s clothing again. Two years after winning her court case, she legally changed her name to Carmen Tione Rupe. 

Rupe cared deeply for the sex work community. She witnessed firsthand the paradoxical nature of the sex work industry. On one hand, it provided a lifeline of employment opportunities for queer individuals who faced discrimination from mainstream workplaces. On the other hand, the criminal aspect of this line of work exposed her community to a higher risk of violence. Being a trans woman, she was designated to operate her services to exclusively trans areas. These areas would attract people with violent intent against trans women, and because sex work was still criminalised, trans sex workers were easy targets for these hate-fueled crimes. Some of the worst perpetrators of this violence were the police, and she was harassed and arrested many times for prostitution. Never one to be deterred, she did not let this crush her spirit. It only resulted in a burning passion to stand up for sex worker rights. She became a strong voice and advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work in Aotearoa, which would finally come to fruition in 2003 in the form of The Prostitutes Reform Act. 

Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge

The skills and experience gained from Rupe's diverse career, which spanned the worlds of hospitality, show business, and sex work, ultimately gave rise to her most notable legacy: Carmen's International Coffee Lounge. Now living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, Rupe lived in a flat beneath a coffee shop. Her landlord informed her that he was moving, and from this Rupe had an idea. She approached the city council, enquiring if she could open a morning and afternoon tea shop. Her real motive, however, was to operate a brothel. She wasn’t going to tell them that, of course! With the council approval, and using money she had inherited from her departed grandfather, she purchased the coffee shop and got to work creating a stunning environment that would become an iconic staple of the queer capital of Aotearoa. She had a strong vision for the visual aesthetic of her business, and she worked the streets to raise the money needed to pay for these avant-garde items. The walls were painted red and were decorated with European art, mirrors, and peacock feathers. She had black leather furniture placed upon purple carpets, and to tie the flamboyance together, she had a lime green parrot observing patrons in the corner! In the words of Rupe, her workers were “prostitutes, lesbians, and gay guys, transsexuals and drag queens. [They were] a great staff.” She credits the success of her business to working with fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

During its 10 year ride, Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge was a huge success. Operating from 6pm-6am and being allowed up to one hundred patrons per shift, she noted her lounge attracted clients of all walks of life. There were low and highbrow clients, the Hollywood elite, American sailors, ordinary citizens, and lonely people seeking company while surrounded by the ecstasy of queer joy. No stranger to police brutality, Rupe ensured there was a quick getaway for her staff during police raids by installing an elaborate system of doors and stairways. In order to remain inconspicuous, patrons seeking sexual services communicated their preferred booking by arranging their coffee cups in particular ways: a cup upside down for heterosexual sex, on its side for a trans worker, and underneath the saucer if the customer sought a gay male. Witnessing how common it was for people of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to revel in the environment she had cultivated, Rupe was a loud and proud advocate for queer rights. She publicly called out that many members of NZ parliament were gay or bisexual. She did not name names, but instead brought awareness towards the hypocrisy of these people who used their political power to endorse anti gay laws. “A lot of society and business people today laugh at homosexuals, prostitutes, queers, lesbians, and female impersonators.” Rupe stated. “But I think if their names were revealed.... we'd get the last laugh.”

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. By the late 1970’s, the 10-year lease on her building expired. Saddened by this, Rupe made the decision to put to rest her business establishment, but the legacy of Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge, as well as Carmen Rupe herself, lives on. She was crowned the Queen of Wellington, receiving a specially woven korowai, before returning once again to Sydney where she would pass away at the age of 75. She credited her many “toy boys” for keeping her forever young. 

Rupe’s Legacy

Rupe was a pioneer who helped bring drag, cabaret, and strip tease to Aotearoa. Wellington, to this day, remains a queer centred city, brimming with drag performers, strippers, and sex workers. Rupe’s legacy is a prime example of the respect and love shared between the trans, queer, and sex work community. She is remembered with fondness by her friends, whānau, and members of the community. During the unveiling of her traffic light, a friend of Rupe, Amanduh la Whore, noted that, “Carmen was a pioneer. She is an absolute triumph. And someone that we as drag queens, the transgender community, the gay community have always looked up to and held her with great regard.” Dana de Milo, one of Rupe’s coffee lounge workers, noted the importance of remembering that Rupe was a sex worker. “Her history was that she was a prostitute. That's how she made her businesses. That's how she made her life. So I can imagine her saying ‘I really should be the red light girl’...”

Citations:
Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge and the Balcony | Te Papa
Carmen except from Showgirls
Carmen Good Morning
Carmen's Kings Cross Apprenticeship 
Carmen Rupe Talks to Andy Anderson
CARMEN RUPE TRIBUTE
Launch of Carmens traffic light » PrideNZ.com
Proud To Be Māori | Carmen Rupe (English)
TV interview with Carmen Rupe, 1975

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