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READ: HRC's Donna Payne Remembers Dr. Dorothy Height

Donna Payne is the Human Rights Campaign's Deputy Director for Diversity. She's also one of the highest profile out black lesbians in Washington D.C. and a friend of Rod 2.0. Donna was gracious enough to share with Rod 2.0 her personal story of meeting the late Dr. Dorothy Height for the first time, and, the how the "godmother of civil rights" became an inspiration.

Reflections on Dr. Dorothy Height from an Out Black Lesbian by Donna Payne

The first time I met Dorothy Height, I was 29, a member of the Political Congress of Black Women, and struggling to find my place in the civil rights movement as a black lesbian. 

It seemed back then, that I had an awful choice to make: I could ignore my sexual orientation and remain active with the Civil Rights movement. Or, I could come out and forget about following those aspirations. I felt the African-American Civil Rights community would never accept an out Black Lesbian. But then again, I hadn’t talked to Dorothy Height.

I had read about Dr. Height and was simply in awe. Dorothy Height had been mentored by Mary McCloud Bethune. In the Sixties, she organized "Wednesday’s in Mississippi" which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding.  I knew that she regularly advised First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and encouraged appointments of African American women during President Lyndon Johnson’s term.  

One day, while ushering at an event given by the Political Congress of Black Women, I got to meet her.  Far from being tongue-tied, I had a million questions beginning with, "What can I do to help the world like you have done?"  Dr. Height politely asked my name and then said, "Donna, just be yourself and get involved wherever you feel comfortable."  It was transformative.  I replayed that message over and over for years: "Be yourself, do whatever feels comfortable."

Donna Payne continues and watch Dr. Dorothy Height at the 1997 Human Rights Campaign Annual Dinner AFTER THE JUMP ...

VIDEO: Obama Eulogizes Dorothy Height "Godmother of Civil Rights"

A final good-bye to Dr. Dorothy Height and a eulogy delivered by President Obama at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. The civil rights icon and gay rights ally died last week at 98.

The President remembered Height as the "godmother of civil rights. President Obama said that Dr. Height was a constant presence at the White House. "She came by not once, not twice. Twenty-one times she stopped by the White House."

In the last months of her life, Height even took part in health care discussions at the White House and was scheduled to attend a February meeting with the President and civil rights leaders, he recalled. The New York Times adds:  "Even though Washington was buried by a blizzard, [Obama] said, Ms. Height wanted to come anyway. 'She was not about to let just a bunch of men in this meeting. It was only when the car literally could not get to the driveway that she decided not to come."

Watch the eulogy WHEN YOU JUMP ...

WATCH: Civil Rights Icon and Gay Ally Dorothy Height Dies at 98

Civil rights icon Dr. Dorothy Height, who was the leading female voice of the 1950 and 1960s civil rights movement and stood on the platform with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his historic "I Have a Dream'' speech, died in Washington DC today.  She was 98.

The New York Times:

"Height, whose activism on behalf of women and minorities dated to the New Deal, led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. She continued actively speaking out into her 90s, often getting rousing ovations at events around Washington, where she was immediately recognized by the bright, colorful hats she almost always wore. She died at Howard University Hospital, where she had been in serious condition for weeks. In a statement, President Barack Obama called her ''the godmother of the civil rights movement'' and a hero to Americans. "Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality ... and served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil Rights Movement -- witnessing every march and milestone along the way,'" Obama said."

The newspaper continues:"'One of Height's sayings was, 'If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time.'  She liked to quote 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who said that the three effective ways to fight for justice are to ''agitate, agitate, agitate.'"

Height counseled Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and  Lyndon B.  Johnson on critical civil rights issues. Height also "walked in lockstep with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt" to push vital changes for women's rights, reports The Root. 

Height also lended her influence to push for gay rights, adds LGBT POV's Karen Ocamb.

"Height and her friend Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, were among those LGBT allies who worked the halls of Congress in 1996 with Elizabeth Birch, then-president of the Human Rights Campaign, when the Employment Non-Discrimination Act faced its first vote on the Senate floor. Vice President Al Gore was on standby to cast the deciding vote if necessary – but the Senate rejected ENDA 50-49."

While speaking at the 1997 Human Rights Campaign Annual Dinner, Dr. Height applauded the LGBT rights movement. "There is one thing that we will agree [on]. Civil rights are civil rights. There is no person that is not entitled to their civil rights" she said, adding that "it wasn't hard for us to know" that HRC and gay rights were "about civil rights."

HRC Deputy Director for Diversity Donna Payne adds: "Dr. Height taught us to reach out to others, and to get the conversations going. That’s how you win people’s hearts, which is what it takes to make justice happen."

This was the second death of a major civil rights figure in less than one week. Benjamin L. Hooks, the former longtime head of the NAACP, passed Thursday in Memphis at 85.

Watch the HRC video, as well as a news report and Michelle Obama on this amazing woman AFTER THE JUMP ...