Carmen Rupe Crossing Lights ⚠ Unverified Own this place?

At several pedestrian crossings on Cuba Street, including Cuba and Dixon, Wellington's green walking figure is replaced by the silhouette of Carmen Rupe: beehive hair, dress and heels. They went up in 2016, around the 30th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986. Rupe was Wellington's best-known trans woman. A drag performer, she ran Carmen's International Coffee Lounge and other Cuba Street venues in the 1960s and 70s, and in 1977 she ran for mayor on a platform that included decriminalising homosexuality. The lights stand close to where her businesses traded. There's nothing to visit beyond the crossings themselves, so pair them with a walk along Cuba Street.