Carmen Rupe's life story, from schoolboy to successful businesswoman. According to Wikipedia, Carmen Rupe (1936-2011), was a New Zealand drag performer, brothel keeper, and transgender activist, known for being New Zealand's first drag queen to reach celebrity status.
Taking the name of the gypsy flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya, Rupe became the first Australian Maori to perform as a drag queen. She was arrested many times in New Zealand for wearing female clothes but without being prosecuted because being a drag queen was not illegal in that country.
In 1977, she ran for mayor of Wellington, with the support of local businessman Sir Bob Jones, with the campaign for the legalization of gay marriage and brothels, but she lost to Michael Fowler. She died in 2011 at the age of 75.
