Main points
- Gabrielle Rodriguez Velasquez is competing in Miss Universe 2026 from Puerto Rico as a transgender contestant.
- The Miss Universe organization has allowed transgender women to participate since 2012, and the first such participant was in 2018.
“Miss Universe 2026” / Collage of Channel 24
For a beauty pageant of this magnitude, it would be nothing new to have a transgender contestant parade on stage. This year, Puerto Rico threw down such a challenge.
The organizers of the country's national competition have confirmed that Gabriel Rodriguez Velasquez is now in contention for the title and the opportunity to represent his country on the international stage, writes the publication Hola!.
Interestingly, this is the second time in recent years that a transgender woman has competed for the title in Puerto Rico. It is known that Gabrielle is currently going through all stages of selection on equal terms with other participants.
Gabriel Velasquez participates in the National Selection for the beauty contest / Photo from Instagram
In 2023, Daniela Arroyo Gonzalez was the first openly transgender contestant in Puerto Rico.
Were there transgender people at Miss Universe?
The organization allowed transgender women to participate in the contest back in 2012. The first such participant at the international level in 2018 was Spanish Angela Ponce. And in 2023, two transgender contestants performed in the final of the beauty contest – the representative of Portugal, Marina Machete, and the representative of the Netherlands, Rikki Colle.
Recall that in 2022, Anne Jakkafong Jakrajutap became the owner of “Miss Universe”. At that time, she stated that her goal was to make the competition more open to different participants and cultures.
Three years ago, the first such serious changes took place. The organizers allowed married women, pregnant women and those who already have children to participate in the beauty contest. They explained this decision by saying that personal life cannot be an obstacle to participation. Then the winner of the “Miss Ukraine Universe 2022” contest, Victoria Apanasenko, sincerely reported this news on her Instagram.
Who won Miss Universe 2025?
- The winner of the 74th Miss Universe beauty pageant was Fatima Bosch from Mexico.
- As CNN reported, Pravinar Singh from Thailand took second place in this year's beauty pageant, while Stephanie Abasali from Venezuela, Ahtisa Manalo from the Philippines, and Olivia Yasse from Côte d'Ivoire made it to the top five.
- The representative of Ukraine, Sofia Tkachuk, unfortunately, did not make it into the top 30.