Rosanna Flamer-Caldera

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera has spent more than two decades advocating for LGBTQ rights in Sri Lanka, and her relentless advocacy led to a major victory for queer women globally. In a landmark decision in 2022, the U.N. sided with Flamer-­Caldera in her case against Sri Lanka’s ban on same-sex intimacy between women, declaring it a human-­rights violation. The case brought LGBTQ rights to the fore in Sri Lankan politics, and soon after the decision, a lawmaker introduced a bill to decriminalize homosexuality in the country. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said he won’t oppose the amendment, but the proposed law’s constitutionality was challenged before the Supreme Court. Flamer-Caldera’s LGBTQ-­rights group, Equal Ground, was among those that petitioned to support the bill. The court ruled in their favor last year, clearing the path for the law to progress in Parliament, where Equal Ground is now working to help ensure it passes.

Mansoor is a TIME reporter