After the announcement of the top 20 semi-finalists, in which she failed to advance, Ponce walked the stage one last time while a tribute video was playing. Ponce recieved cheers from the audience. The video featured Ponce’s struggles from childhood as a member of the LGBTQ community until she finally made it to Thailand. “I don’t need to win Miss Universe. I only need to be here,” she said in the video. According to Twitter user @nakngtweeting, “pageantry just reinvented itself and will never be the same.” Since the pageant was established, this was the very first time a transgender woman was able to compete.