Carmen, New Zealand's first and best-known drag queen, has died in Sydney.
A flamboyant figure, Carmen, 75, helped open the way to greater acceptance of minorities.
Born in 1936, she was brought up in Taumaranui as Tione (Trevor) Rupe in a family of 13.
As a boy, Carmen dressed in semi-drag, doing the hula at talent quests, but didn't think of herself as a female impersonator till she was 17.
Compulsory military service was still in force and after a term in the army, Carmen went in the early 1960s to Sydney where she worked as a prostitute and as a belly dancer and snake charmer at a nightclub.
Moving to Wellington in the early 1970s, she set up a coffee bar and a nightclub, which attracted a wide range of customers and made her a household name.
She was fined for making advances to an undercover policeman and narrowly avoided prison for suggesting that some MPs were gay or bisexual and that she could name them.
In 1977, Carmen ran for mayor of Wellington, polling more than 1400 votes on a platform including legalising prostitution and allowing nudity on some beaches.
She was one of the city's most colourful characters.
Former MP, transsexual Georgina Beyer, says Carmen was able to stand proud and make others feel the same way.
