evidence: "The rainbow flag is like an old-school 'safe place' sign — LGBTQ youth are able to see it and say, 'OK, I can be me here, I can be accepted and loved and safe without fear,'" says Carla Sue Castro, a mental health counselor and mom of two kids in the Bluffton, Ind., school district — which banned rainbow flags (and anything else not directly related to official lessons) after a mom said that one displayed in an eighth-grade classroom may have prompted homophobic bullying towards her son. [...] "Displaying an LGBTQ pride flag is an inclusive and harmless way to show LGBTQ people they are welcome and safe," GLAAD rapid response manager Mary Emily O'Hara tells Yahoo Life. "Pride flags and Progress flags are symbols to others in towns and schools about a community's values, to represent and support the most marginalized in the community."