A queer faith group says the controversy over the Pride flag at Cape Town’s prestigious Bishops Diocesan College has exposed a much deeper question about how LGBTQIA+ people are welcomed and cared for in the Church.
The furore surrounding flying the Pride flag at the prestigious Anglican-based school prompted a powerful response from one of South Africa’s leading LGBTQIA+ Christian organisations, which says the debate is about far more than a rainbow flag.
In an open letter released this week, Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM) called on the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), the Bishops College community and church leaders to respond to the dispute with dialogue, compassion and stronger pastoral care for LGBTQIA+ people.
The intervention follows weeks of national attention after the Old Diocesan Union (ODU), representing former Bishops learners, urged the school’s governing body to stop flying the Pride flag for two days a year during June, internationally recognised as Pride Month.
The request sparked widespread criticism, prompted hundreds of parents, staff and alumni to publicly defend the school’s stance, asserting that the Pride flag is a sign of the school being a welcoming and safe space. The issue has also gone on to fuel a wave of queerphobic comments on social media platforms.
More than a debate about a flag
IAM argued that the controversy has highlighted a much older conversation within the Anglican Church about inclusion, belonging and the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ Christians.
The organisation traced that history back to 1998, when the Anglican Church of Southern Africa first affirmed the human dignity of gay and lesbian people, through to the Archbishop’s Commission on Human Sexuality and its landmark 2019 report.
Most recently, at Provincial Synod in September 2024, delegates rejected proposals that would have allowed bishops to authorise blessings for same-sex couples and also voted against pastoral prayers for members in civil unions.
IAM believes that history aside, “What cannot wait is the pastoral care owed right now to LGBTQIA+ students, parishioners and clergy who are watching this debate and wondering what it says about their place in the church.”
Inclusion is part of the Christian faith
One of the letter’s strongest messages challenged the suggestion, repeated by some critics during the Bishops debate, that supporting LGBTQIA+ inclusion conflicts with Christianity.
“The inclusion of LGBTQIA+ inclusion is not opposed to the Christian faith; they are an expression of it. To frame this inclusion as ideological, as many have in this recent debate, is a misrepresentation. Whenever God’s children are excluded from pastoral care and belonging, the Church must ask whether it is reflecting the Gospel of Christ,” the organisation said.
IAM also stressed that, despite continuing theological disagreements within the Anglican Communion, nothing in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s policies prevents clergy from caring for LGBTQIA+ people.
“The Province has affirmed since 1998 that LGBTQIA+ Anglicans are full, baptised members of the Body of Christ,” the letter noted.
“Whatever the Council at Bishops decides, no chaplain anywhere is prevented from sitting with a frightened student, and none should wait for Synod’s permission to do so.”
Drawing on Desmond Tutu’s legacy
IAM reinforced its message by quoting the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who repeatedly compared homophobia with other forms of discrimination.
“The church of Jesus Christ… has made many of God’s children outcasts and pariahs on the basis of something which, like race and gender, they could do nothing about – their sexual orientation,” Tutu wrote after apartheid.
“If the church, after the victory over apartheid, is looking for a worthy moral crusade, then this is it: the fight against homophobia and heterosexism.”
The organisation also cited biblical teachings on peacemaking and compassion, encouraging churches to create spaces where difficult conversations can take place with honesty and respect.
A call for dialogue, not division
Rather than urging people to take sides over the Pride flag at Bishops College, IAM appealed for faith communities to use the moment to engage in deeper conversations about belonging and pastoral care and to “open spaces for honest, sustained dialogue in your chaplaincies.”
Acknowledging that people hold differing views, IAM added that those who feel unsettled by the conversation also deserve compassion rather than dismissal.
“Some in our pews feel genuinely threatened by this conversation, and that fear, too, deserves pastoral attention, not dismissal. This is simply the Christ-like thing to do.”
While the Bishops Diocesan College Council continues to consider the future of the Pride flag at the school, the public debate has exposed how deeply contested LGBTQIA+ inclusion remains. Social media platforms have been flooded with false and fear-mongering anti-rights claims portraying LGBTQIA+ identities as inherently sexualised and a danger to children.
In contrast, IAM’s letter calls for the conversation to move beyond culture-war rhetoric and instead focus on the Christian values of dignity, belonging, compassion and care for all people.
