Shaneel Lal

Shaneel Lal (they/them) is the founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group, the group that led the movement to ban conversion therapy in Aotearoa. They founded the Conversion Therapy Action Group after giving their speech to ban conversion therapy at Youth Parliament in 2019. They have sat on the Minister of Education’s Youth Advisory Group and Amnesty International’s Global Youth Taskforce. Shaneel was a Global Youth Leader for Open Government Partnership and was selected into the role of Youth Justice Leader by New York University Center on International Cooperation. They were named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List in 2022. On 30 March this year, at the age of 23, Shaneel was named as the 2023 Young New Zealander of the Year, becoming the first transgender person to win an award at the New Zealander of the Year Awards. Shaneel is currently studying Law and Psychology. Shaneel is a political commentator and writes a weekly column for the Herald on Sunday. Shaneel’s memoir is One of Them (Allen & Unwin). They live in Tāmaki Makaurau.