Miss Universe pageant included the event’s first ever transgender contestant

Angela Ponce, Miss Spain in the Miss Universe competition, is the first transgender contestant in the pageant’s history.

She didn’t win – didn’t even make the top 20 in the event held in Bangkok, Thailand. But Ponce said that doesn’t matter. What mattered is that she was there.

"I'm competing because it's what I've wanted to do since I was a little girl," Ponce told Time ahead of the competition. "I'm showing that trans women can be whatever they want to be: a teacher, a mother, a doctor, a politician and even Miss Universe."

She wrote in Spanish on her Instagram page, “Life is full of challenges, challenges, to understand that in my life has made today I have fulfilled a dream that I always had, for it the only thing I needed was to turn every obstacle that appeared to me as an opportunity for growth.”

She praised her family and friends, saying, “I walk hand in hand with my family and friends always receiving their support and unconditional love, without them none of this would be possible.”

The pageant was held December 13, and aired Sunday, December 16 on Fox. NewNowNext quoted from a video segment that aired during the show, in which Ponce says, “My hope is for tomorrow to be able to live in a world of equality for everyone, simply for us all to understand that we are human and that we must make all our lives easier together. That reality for many people is going to change.

“If I can give that to the world,” she added, “I don’t need to win Miss Universe; I only need to be here.”

Miss Philippines  Catriona Gray won the competition to be crowned Miss Universe.

Copyright The Gayly – December 17, 2018 @ 1:15 p.m. CST.