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When native New Yorker Eliza Byard went to boarding school in Massachusetts in the ninth grade, she expected a cultural adjustment. But she didn't anticipate a paper doll hanging in effigy from a classroom window with the words "Eliza is a dyke."

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For Byard, like many kids, high school was rough. As she gradually came out to a close friend, her parents and a trusted teacher, Byard thought the only safe way to get through life--and achieve something--was to hide who she was.

"I thought I would get as far as I could in my career, then come out, and retire. When I'm 65, I'd start having a real personal life," she recalls.

The world--or at least the circles Byard travels in--opened up, and she found she could have both. Today, Byard is executive director of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and lives with her partner, Eva Kolodner, and their daughter, Klara. Her journey took her to Yale and Columbia universities, where she received a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. in history, and to the Center for Investigative Reporting and public television.

GLSEN's mission is "to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression … and to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes in creating a more vibrant and diverse community."

In 1994, Byard began doing consulting work for GLSEN, which eventually led to a full-time position. She took over last year as executive director.

"The one experience we all share is we have to go to school and we have to be in contact with a lot of people who are very different from us. This is a bellwether to where we are headed as a society," she says.

This article appeared in the May/June 2009 issue of DiversityInc magazine. Click here to read the digital version of this story.