Friends and family of Kiwi drag queen Carmen Rupe gathered in Sydney today to farewell her.
As a gay rights advocate, Rupe led a very public life fighting for equal rights for a marginalised community.
Coco Devine, a friend of Rupe's, said she encouraged other trans-gender people to stand up for what they believe in.
"She taught us to be people and remember who we are."
Rupe died of kidney failure last Thursday.
Although her loved ones said goodbye to her today, Rupe's influence still remains.
"It's a good time to say goodbye to a woman who was a trailblazer in so many ways for rights for both trans-gender," Pindi-Rochelle Hurring, a friend of Rupe's, said.
"You know the awareness she brought to that not only in New Zealand but also here in Australia."
Born Trevor Rupe into a family of 13 in Taumarunui, she took the name Carmen after entering the sex industry in Australia on leaving the army in the late 1950s.
Becoming Australia's first ever Maori drag performer, Carmen took the name from Dorothy Dandridge's character in the movie Carmen Jones.
Returning to New Zealand in the late 1960s, she became an entrepreneur and owned several businesses in Wellington, including a notorious massage parlour. It was rumoured to be frequented by everyone from politicians to police officers.
Despite homosexuality being illegal in New Zealand at the time, sexual liaisons could be organised at Carmen's.
Interested patrons would arrange their coffee cups in particular ways to show what kind of liaison they wanted: a heterosexual, gay, transsexual, or drag queen encounter.
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