Since the beginning of June – Pride Month – social media has been flooded with imagery of the rainbow flag.
It is draped across personal, organisational and corporate pages, across products and as packaging for a variety of gimmicks.
These colours make up the LGBTIQ+ pride flag, designed in 1978 in San Fransisco, which represents the gay community.
The flag is a symbol for equality; it is not just for gay people, but for all progressive individuals and organisations who support the principles of equal rights, equal dignity and equal respect for all.
Why are pride flags most prominent in June? Because this is the month the world's gay community remembers the Stonewall riots, in New York in 1969, where gay men and trans people were persecuted, attacked and arrested by police high on discriminatory laws of the day against homosexuality.
More than 50 years later, through the hard work and perseverance of many activists and martyrs, laws in many jurisdictions have changed.
But, globally, the persecution of members of the LGBTIQ+ community has barely been halted at all.
South Africa provides a grim perspective on the gaps that exist between laws and peoples' lived experience on the ground.
We have an undoubtedly progressive Constitution that protects each and every South African regardless of consideration such as race, gender or sexual orientation
But extreme violence, mutilations and sexual assault are still commonly perpetrated in our country due to peoples' prejudices.
Each hate crime that is perpetrated is another unsavoury report card on the slow pace of social progress.
Until the country is able to face up to, and address, the reality of the stigmatisation of the LGBTIQ+ people in our communities, hatred and violence will continue and true justice for all South Africans will remain a pipe dream.
The months leading up to Pride Month witnessed a series of gruesome attacks of LGBTIQ+ people, particularly in poorer communities.
In April, 34-year-old Sphamandla Khoza, a gay man, was murdered in Durban. In the same month, Andile 'Lulu' Nthuthula (40) was found mutilated, burned and buried in a shallow grave in his alleged murderers backyard.
In the Western Cape, a few weeks later, Lonwabo Jack, 22, was killed in Nyanga East for allegedly being gay. Then, Phelokazi Ndlwana, a 24-year-old lesbian women, was stabbed to death in Khayelitsha.
Hate crimes occur not only in South Africa, but in many oppressive countries, including modern democracies, around the world.
It's a universal issues, not only because it occurs around the world, but also because it affects every individual represented by a colour in the rainbow flag.
Oppression affects us disproportionately, but we need to recognise it in each other – that's what creates our humanity.
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