Taking educators to school

[Shana A]

Taking educators to school
by Ethan Jacobs
associate editor
Thursday May 8, 2008

http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=74155

Wakefield High School was a war zone for Diane Difraia. She preferred sweats and t-shirts to hip-huggers and girly tops. On the athletic field she was so aggressive her coaches told her to play with the boys. In tenth grade Difraia came out as a lesbian to her family and close friends, but asked that they keep it a secret. But word somehow got out. In English class girls began calling her names and directing anti-gay slurs at her behind the teacher's back. To this day Difraia, now 20 and a senior at Suffolk University, does not know if any of her friends told her secret or if students drew their own conclusions. But she knows how the rumors about her being a lesbian spread: through the power of the Internet.