When South Africans took to the streets to protest gender-based violence, the nation witnessed a powerful moment of collective grief and defiance. People dressed in all black lay on the ground to symbolize lives lost, and the president declared GBV a national disaster. But in the midst of the crowd videos, a protester wrapped in a rainbow flag stood out to me.

That simple gesture said what many activism spaces still struggle to articulate, that our struggles are intertwined. Gender-based violence does not choose its survivors by identity. It impacts women, men, queer communities, and everyone in between.

We often imagine issues as separate lanes, women’s rights over here, queer rights over there, economic justice somewhere else. But on the ground, in real lives, these lanes merge. Oppression compounds. Injustice spills across categories. And that is exactly why liberation must do the same.

We saw that same interconnectedness during Kenya’s finance bill protests. Amid crowds demanding accountability and transparency, rainbow flag appeared once again not as a distraction, not as a side issue, but as a reminder that queer people are part of the public, part of the struggle, and part of the vision for a just future.

Because the truth is simple, we are connected. Our safety is connected. Our freedoms are connected. Our futures are connected. When people rise to protest GBV, war, corruption, or any form of injustice, they are fighting not just for themselves but for everyone affected by systems that harm.

In solidarity with South African women, with queer communities, with Kenyan youth, and with anyone standing up against violence and inequality. And may we remember that liberation is strongest when it is shared.