In November of 2000, the President of the Spanish government presented Vargas with "la Cruz de la Orden Isabel Católica," one of the most prestigious awards for artistic production.

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This award, the singer declared, was testament to her vexed legacy, one that included her unapologetic persona and creative lesbian aesthetic.

In 2002, she appeared in Julie Traymor's biopic of Frida Kahlo, Frida, in which she hauntingly sang "La Llorona," or "The Crier."

Vargas pursued an active working life into her nineties. In 2011, she released a new album of García Lorca's poems and appeared in concerts, singing from her wheelchair.

She died on August 5, 2012 in a hospital in Cuernavaca, where she had been admitted for heart and respiratory problems.

Historically, cabarets and revues have been much more likely to mention or imply same-sex desire than the "legitimate" theater; and same-sex desire has been less frequently condemned in cabarets and revues than in mainstream plays.

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's gay and transsexual themed films present absurd situations framed by the trappings of everyday life.

Bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was a masterful exponent of cross-dressing, deliberately using male drag to project power and independence.