Puerto Rico made pageant history Thursday after selecting an openly transgender contestant to participate in the conservative territory’s Miss Universe competition.
Daniela Arroyo, a public relations professional and prominent trans rights advocate, is one of the 39 women who will be able to represent their municipality in the Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant.
The winner of the title of Miss Puerto Rico Universe, a competition traditionally held in September, goes on to represent the island in the global Miss Universe pageant.
“She wishes to live in a less polarized society, where differences can be appreciated and embraced as something positive that unites, instead of something that separates,” Miss Universe Puerto Rico organizers said in a short profile of Arroyo shared on Instagram.
Arroyo — the cofounder of the Puerto Rico Trans Youth Coalition, a local advocacy and support group — was one of three plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the LGBTQ rights legal group Lambda Legal that sought to “compel the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to allow transgender individuals to correct the gender marker on their birth certificates.”
In April 2018, a court struck down the anti-trans policy recognizing trans people’s rights to correct their birth certificates.
“It makes me feel safer and like my country finally recognizes me,” Arroyo said at the time, calling the ruling “a huge relief.”
The plaintiffs “have stepped up for those whose voices, debilitated by raw discrimination, have been hushed into silence,” U.S. District Court Judge Carmen Consuelo wrote in the decision. “They cannot wait for another generation, hoping for a lawmaker to act.”
Organizers of the Miss Universe pageant have allowed trans participants since 2012. In 2018, Miss Universe Spain Ángela Maria Ponce Camacho became the first openly transgender contestant to compete in the global competition.
Late last year Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, a prominent Thai transgender businesswoman, bought the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million.
The organization exists “to advocate for a future forged by women with the courage to push the limits of what’s possible, who are curious in the discovery, and the audacity to do it again,” according to a description on its website.
The next edition of its traditional beauty pageant will take place in El Salvador, likely early next year.
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