Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd

When queer-rights ­activist and author Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd spoke in Thailand’s parliament, the weight of a generation was on their shoulders. “It felt like I was carrying my ­Gen Z–ness,” the 19-year-old says, “to really show that the ­parliament actually belongs to the people.” 

Kyoka addressed lawmakers as a member of a committee on a landmark marriage-­equality bill. They are the face of a new generation of Thai activists taking the baton in the country’s decades-old LGBTQ movement, which has seen crucial successes over the past year. The bill passed in June, ­putting Thailand in line to be the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. 

There’s more ahead, as activists set their sights on queer ­reproductive rights and gender-­recognition laws. Kyoka believes that if communities work in tandem, change is within reach. “The marriage-equality bill really showed us how important it was for intergenerational activism, and how we can actually work together,” says Kyoka. “Activism doesn’t happen only with one generation or one group of people.”