California Catholic high school replaces pride flags after diocese asks for their removal
The school developed a rainbow-colored “Inclusive O” following a yearlong process over how to represent students who identify as “LGBTQ+."
After the Diocese of Oakland asked one of its Catholic high schools to remove pride flags displayed on campus, the school replaced them with a new rainbow-colored symbol meant to affirm its “LGBTQ+” community.
Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland introduced the “Inclusive O” before students returned for the 2026-27 school year, according to an Aug. 10 report from KQED. The outlet described the design as incorporating colors from the Pride and Progress Pride flags into the school’s signature letter “O.”
Kim Walsh, president of the school, said the new design was intended to communicate that all members of the school community are welcome.
“The Inclusive O,” Walsh said in a letter to families cited by KQED, “affirms that our LGBTQ+ students, families, faculty, and staff are seen, known, loved, and belong here.”
KQED reported that the diocese asked the school to remove the flags after a community member reported a Progress Pride flag on campus to Oakland Archbishop Michael Barber. The flags remained on campus until shortly before summer break, when the school removed them.
According to Walsh’s letter, the flags had become a “lightning rod” during the previous academic year. She said the school spent a year developing them with input from faculty, counselors, parents, students, members of the Board of Regents, and people who identify as “LGBTQ+.”
The outlet cited a September 2023 joint pastoral letter from Archbishop Barber and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone addressing broader questions surrounding gender ideology. The bishops rejected gender ideology as contrary to the Catholic understanding of the human person.
They described gender ideology as “opposed to reason, to science, and to a Christian view of the human person.” They also called Catholics to accompany people experiencing gender dysphoria and protect them from unjust discrimination while remaining faithful to the truth about the human person.
“Compassion,” the bishops wrote, “that does not include both truth and charity is a misplaced compassion.”
