Top South African private school under siege over flying the LGBTQ+ Pride flag

Bishops Diocesan College used to fly only its own flag, the South African flag, and the St George’s flag. However, the addition of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag has caused an uproar.

Diocesan College, known simply as Bishops, is one of South Africa’s oldest and most prestigious boys-only schools.

It was founded in 1849 by Cape Town’s first Anglican Bishop, Robert Gray, to provide a classic British-style education infused with Christian values.

Bishops is highly regarded for its academic performance, consistently producing top results in the matriculation exams.

It also played a big role in the history of South African rugby. In 1861, its principal introduced a version of football that eventually evolved into rugby.

The school’s alumni network includes some of South Africa’s most prominent figures in business, politics, science, and sport.

Some notable former Bishops learners are Francois Pienaar, Robbie Fleck, Mark Shuttleworth, and Raymond Ackerman.

The school, located in Rondebosch, Cape Town, accommodates around 1,550 students across pre-prep, prep, and college levels.

The prestigious school has been in the spotlight recently for flying the LGBTQ+ Pride flag, which ruffled a few feathers.

On Wednesday, 8 July 2026, Rob Hersov questioned Bishops’ rotating pride-flag policy in an article published on Biznews.

He argued that Bishops should adopt a formal policy of institutional neutrality regarding its flagpoles, and only fly three flags:

• The Bishops flag, representing the school’s identity, traditions, and community.

• The South African flag, representing the nation and the constitutional order that protects all citizens equally.

• The St George’s Cross flag, representing the school’s Anglican founding and its enduring moral framework.

“No other flags. No rotations. No causes du jour, however worthy. This is not exclusion,” Hersov wrote.

“It is a declaration that Bishops belongs equally to every boy who attends it, regardless of his race, his religion, his politics, or his sexuality.”

Controversy about the pride flag at Bishops

The issue started after Black Lives Matter protests and student-led calls for institutional transformation across South African private schools in 2020.

Bishops established a student Pride Society in 2021 and decided to fly the progressive Pride flag for three days during Pride Month starting in 2022.

The decision caused unhappiness among a group of conservative parents and Old Diocesans, arguing that the flag diluted the school’s historical Anglican traditions.

They also argued that it forced a direct association between the school and the political Pride movement, which most learners did not want.

In response, a separate faction of Bishops parents and high-profile figures publicly backed the principal.

They argued that traditional family values were being used to mask homophobia and that creating a safe space for marginalised students was vital.

In 2024, Matric pupils at Bishops urged the school not to raise the Pride flag that year due to its divisive nature.

The learners and some members of the Student Representative Forum (SRF) wrote an open letter to the school, asking that it not repeat this action.

They expressed that highlighting one specific group creates a system of groups rather than a single, united student body.

“We accept all boys who are students at this school, regardless of who they are attracted to or who they love,” they said.

“However, we do not accept division, and we don’t accept symbols that seek to split us up.”

Bishops Pride

In June 2021, Diocesan College principal Tony Reeler wrote about Bishops Pride in his newsletter. It is reproduced in full below.

In 2019, when we could still travel, my wife and I went to New York on holiday at the end of a conference we attended in Canada.

We arrived in New York, took the underground to our hotel in Times Square and emerged at 10:00 in the morning into the middle of World Pride celebrations!

The cacophony of noise was indescribable, as was the riot of colour, but for us, what was the lasting impression that people were able to feel authentic, to be authentic, if only for a short period of time.

They were in a very big “safe space”. It was a wonderful moment I will remember forever.

Bishops Pride has decided to put up a pride flag for the final days of school this term to show support for Global Pride Month, which signifies the Stonewall riots of June 1969 in the US.

These riots were started by frequenters of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, resisting the harassment and brutality of the police that had plagued the entire community for decades, effectively starting the gay pride movement both in the US and in many other countries around the world.

South Africa also has its own history of an amazing queer pride movement, which worked hand in hand with the anti-apartheid movement, leading to South Africa’s new constitution being possibly the most supportive and protective of queer people in the world.

This proudly South African history will be remembered and celebrated later this year during October to commemorate when the first South African (and African) pride event took place on the 13th of October 1990.

Ultimately, Bishops commemorates these events to show support for the global and South African queer communities, as well as Bishops’ own queer students.