In 2014, Singapore’s Health Promotion Board published some FAQs on youth sexuality that surprisingly supported LGBTQ experiences. When the board faced major backlash and a petition to remove the materials, Yang penned an open letter to the Health Ministry describing their importance.

The letter went viral, propelling Yang — then just 20 — into the spotlight. He quickly became one of Singapore’s leading gay rights advocates, and worked extensively with other students to launch an inter-university network of queer student organizations aimed at making campuses safer and more inclusive.

In addition to being president of Yale-NUS College’s gender and sexuality alliance, Yang organized hundreds of students to lobby for reforms of the National University of Singapore’s sexual misconduct policies. He also co-founded the Community for Advocacy & Political Education, a student-run group, initiating over 20 projects and workshops to inspire civic engagement.

“I’m really proud to have been a part of the resurgence of student activism in Singapore,” he says. “Beyond the specific campaigns that we launched, we’ve fostered a strong community that gives me hope of a more just and equal society.”

Yang is on Tatler Asia’s Generation T list of 300 young leaders shaping Asia’s future, and The Straits Times’ 30 and Under Young Singaporeans to Watch list. Eager to empower marginalized communities, he wanted to pursue an LL.M. in the United States to tap the country’s deep experience with discrimination and disability law.

“Berkeley is where the disability rights movement was born,” says Yang, interning this semester with the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. “I took Disability Rights with Arlene Mayerson and found it so inspiring to learn about cases and laws that she helped to argue and craft as a pioneer of American disability law.

“While many young people in Singapore have become familiar with hot-button issues like gender and sexuality and climate change, disability rights have largely remained on the fringe. This needs to change.”

While he remains an outspoken advocate, Yang values listening as a vital tool for building community and achieving real progress.

“Advocacy without listening is, in my view, performance rather than persuasion,” he says. “Listening is hard, because it requires us to sit with what we find disagreeable, discomfiting, and even disgusting. But I believe that’s exactly what activism is about.”

— Andrew Cohen