Photos by Annie Flanagan

When Lynn Rosenthal agreed to speak at a rally for women who killed their abusive husbands in the early 1990s, she had no idea she was embarking on a path that would lead to the White House .

At the time, she was a reproductive rights activist in Florida and didnt know much about domestic violence. A little under two decades later, then-Vice President Joe Biden appointed her as the first-ever White House adviser on violence against women, where she directed the federal response to an entrenched, complicated issue that takes the lives of four women every day .

HuffPost spoke to Rosenthal about her early work in reproductive rights, her career as a womens rights activist, and what it was like to be a lesbian in the White House before President Barack Obama or Biden publicly supported gay marriage.

What was it like when you started at the White House in 2009?

It was overwhelming and terrifying and exciting. And there was also the whole attack on the Obama czars around that time. Every night, Glenn Beck was going after the czars on his show. There was a chart of the faces of the 20 czars, and my face was on there. Every night at 5 p.m., I would watch Glenn Beck in my office to see which czar he was attacking.

That first year, I feel like a misfit in the White House, like maybe I dont belong here. It was not, in 2009, all that comfortable to be a gay staffer in the White House. It was an uneasy feeling. For me and others, walking the halls, you felt like maybe this big dream isnt going to be about us.

I remember bringing my partner to a party at the vice presidents residence and feeling kind of awkward. We were going through the photo line, and I was just awkward about it, honestly. I said, Mr. Vice President, this is my partner, Jennifer. And he grabbed me in one of those famous bear hugs and said to Jennifer, Your partner is my partner every day, dont you forget it. Dont you forget how important what she is doing is.

Jennifer remarked on the fact that the gay mens choir was singing at the residence, and I said, I bet that wasnt the case with the previous occupants, and Biden said, Well, its the norm here. It was obvious that he wanted us to be comfortable. I felt supported and like I belonged there.

But then the following year, when we got married in 2010, I didnt invite a lot of people from the White House. Plus, there was Glenn Beck talking about the czars. ... It seemed like a volatile environment the last thing I needed was to be the poster child for marriage equality as a White House staffer.

Tell me about when Biden publicly announced his support for marriage equality.

I picked up my BlackBerry on a Sunday morning, and it said: Vice President Joe Biden supports gay marriage . It changed my life. It made me feel like this was real. It made me feel validated and supported by the highest levels of government. My relationship was legitimate and I belonged there.

What was it like to work with Biden?

Working with Vice President Biden was like being a student of the best professor of history and government. I learned a great deal from him. We worked closely together on Title IX and campus sexual assault, and his leadership created significant changes in the landscape.

What do you make of the recent controversy over Bidens physical behavior around women, hugging and touching them without consent?

I am glad to hear of his commitment to recognizing womens personal space and understanding the differences in how women and men experience the world. And he has broadened his understanding of gender as well, as evidenced by the Biden Foundations campaign to urge parents to love and accept their transgender children.