Carmen for Mayor election advertisement

Carmen Rupe (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Heke-a-Wai, 1936-2011) was a flamboyant transgender women, performer, business owner and anti-discrimination activist who became a cultural icon in New Zealand and Australia. She owned several businesses in Wellington, including late-night cafes, an illicit sex venue, and The Balcony nightclub.

Born Trevor Rupe near Taumarunui in 1936, Carmen moved to Auckland in the 1950s, then to Sydney, where she made a living dancing and stripping at nightclubs in Kings Cross. It was here that she picked up many of the business ideas that she later deployed in Wellington. These ideas were ahead of their time for New Zealand, largely due to Carmen’s uninhibited and liberal views on sex and sexual orientation. She was openly and proudly transsexual.

In 1977 Carmen ran a high-profile campaign to become mayor of Wellington, supported by outspoken entrepreneur Bob Jones. Her campaign included calling for the decriminalisation of prostitution, abortion and homosexuality. She came fourth.

Carmen left New Zealand in the late 1970s and returned to Sydney, but she remains an inspiration to New Zealand’s gay and transgender communities.