UN Girls’s Education Initiative (UNGEI) has recognized Rukshana Kapali, a Nepali transgender woman activist, as one of six LGBTQ+ young activists.

UNGEI has considered the activists’ personal journey and contributions to uplift LGBTQI community in their respective societies.

Kapali, in her blog, has recorded her struggles to get enrolled in college and highlighted the problems faced by LGBTQ+ persons in several fields, including academics and education.

“This whole series of documenting my journey of struggle with legislation and policy in Nepal as a trans person began as I submitted my registration form for a Bachelor Degree. For around three years I went through a series of legal messes with laws and policies that do not address the needs of trans people. The reason I am not getting enrolment to the university is part of a broader problem where trans people are not allowed to change their papers with their preferred name and gender markers,” Kapali writes.

The other five activists include Sherenté, 19, Indigenous Two Spirit youth, member of the Narragansett tribe (United States); David from Ecuador; Georgia, 20, from Czech Republic; Sadam Hanjabam from Manipur, India; and Raquel, 23, from Mexico.

They have been recognized for their efforts in transforming education and demanding that education systems go against the binary to support LGBTQ+ learners.