Honouring Gaby Sanchez – A Voice for Queer and Disability Rights

Activists, civil society organisations and loved ones have taken to social media to mourn and honour the life of Johannesburg disability and queer rights activist Gaby Sanchez who passed away on the 16th of January, 2026.

According to friend and fellow disability rights activist Tania Melnyczuk, Sanchez had lived many years with only one functioning lung and relied on supplemental oxygen.

A memorial service for the 38-year-old activist was held on the 24th of January at Renishaw Chapel in Scottsburgh, KwaZulu-Natal, with simultaneous livestream viewings across the country.

Sanchez was an inclusive education advocate, an independent editorial strategist, a consultant and a fearless activist for disability, gender and queer rights. They consistently challenged the ways that activists overlooked and excluded individuals living at the intersection of these realities.

In a memorial statement published by Triangle Project, the organisation shared their condolences and wrote, “Gaby’s life illuminated a painful truth within South African queer organising: that disabled queer people are often welcomed in language but excluded in practice.”

Sanchez wrote extensively over her life about the ways that violence and discrimination based on disability, gender and queerness are deeply connected. In an article titled Collaboration is crucial to address GBV and disability, Sanchez wrote, “Although gender-based violence in South Africa has received much more attention in recent years, it is clear that our society, the media and authorities often ignore and neglect the violence experienced by women and girls with disabilities.”

They added, “…we need to recognise that the ‘single-issue’ approach to human rights advocacy is ineffective.”

Her advocacy took on a new light following the COVID-19 pandemic. As someone who had over a decade’s worth of experience with intermittent strict self-isolation owing to their disability and chronic conditions prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, Sanchez was a vocal critic of the disregard many had for COVID-19 restrictions – particularly in the queer community.

“I feel completely abandoned and betrayed,” they told Xtra Magazine in a 2022 article detailing how many queer spaces’ lax approach to COVID-19 safety precautions excludes disabled and chronically ill queer people from their own community.

Sanchez used their social media platforms to spread awareness about COVID-19’s continuing presence and effects and the need for those who care about disability rights to remain vigilant. In the lead up to Johannesburg Pride 2025, she advocated for attendees to mask up, writing on X, “With Pride gatherings happening this weekend, please be aware that COVID, the mass disabling event, is still very much around. Wear masks, test before in days leading up and after gatherings. If you get sick, please ISOLATE!”

Sanchez’s writing and advocacy lives on, recognising the realities of queer people with disabilities as well as challenging able-bodied queer people’s willingness to turn a blind eye to the exclusion of disabled queer people in our community.

MambaOnline extends our deepest condolences to Gaby Sanchez’s family, friends, loved ones and to all those whose lives they touched.