Philippines crowns first openly queer candidate to Miss Universe 2021
By Ryan General
Beatrice Luigi Gomez is set to become the first openly queer candidate to represent the Philippines at the 2021 Miss Universe pageant in December.
Capturing the crown: Gomez, who identifies as bisexual, was crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2021 on Thursday, Sept. 30, Rappler reported.
- The 26-year-old from Cebu city competed against 27 other candidates during the coronation ceremony held in the province of Bohol.
- The pageant initially started with 100 participants, most of whom were gradually eliminated after a series of challenges.
Historic win: Fans and members of the LGBTQ+ community have since taken to social media to celebrate her victory as the country’s first openly queer beauty queen.
- On Twitter, Filipinos took pride in announcing how the “gays are winning.”
- Meanwhile, some social media posts that announced the pageant results were also flooded with anti-LGBT comments, reported Coconuts.
- In an Instagram post last year, Gomez lamented on how she was criticized for winning the Binibining Cebu pageant.
- “If being gay didn’t make God happy why then does He continue to bless me and give me the strength to overcome life’s every challenge? I only truly became happy and lived life to the full when I started becoming honest to myself,” she wrote.
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