Bishop O’Dowd High School introduced a rainbow-colored letter “O” after the Oakland Archdiocese asked the school to take the rainbow flags down.
Aug 10, 2026
Updated 1:41 pm PT
Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland on Aug. 10, 2026. A spokesperson for the school said it has had a unity club for queer students for more than a decade and hosts an annual family day for LGBTQ+ families. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
A Catholic high school in the East Bay removed pride flags ahead of students’ return to campus this week, replacing them with a new symbol that it said affirms the LGBTQ+ community.
In a letter to families last week, Bishop O’Dowd High School President Kim Walsh said the school would introduce the “Inclusive O,” a blocky letter washed in rainbow pride colors, after the classic flags became a “lightning rod” on campus last year.
Walsh wrote that the new “O” will be displayed across the Oakland Hills campus and is meant to “affirm that our LGBTQ+ students, families, faculty, and staff are seen, known, loved, and belong here.”
Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland on Aug. 10, 2026.
A spokesperson for the school told KQED that the Archdiocese of Oakland asked the school to remove the pride flags after someone in the community saw a “progress” flag — which includes the traditional six pride colors, plus a chevron-shaped overlay to the left side in the transgender pride colors, and black and brown — on campus and reported it to Oakland Archbishop Michael Barber.
The school did not immediately comply with the order, but removed flags just before summer break, featuring them in a ceremony in the school’s chapel and replacing them with posters and shirts featuring the “Inclusive O.”
Walsh wrote that developing the alternative symbol was a “yearlong process,” during which school leaders “engaged faculty and staff, counselors, parents, the Board of Regents, LGBTQ+ community members, and student leaders” to ask “How do we continue to visibly communicate that every student belongs?”