Ellen Kahn
Board Member
About Ellen
Ellen (she/her) is a nationally recognized leader in LGBTQ+ family advocacy. She has spent over 18 years at the Human Rights Campaign and currently serves as SVP Equality Programs, leading initiatives that support LGBTQ+ parents and children. Ellen helped to establish Rainbow Families DC as a non-profit in 1994, and for over ten years she led many “Maybe Baby” groups and other programs for LGBTQ+ folks in the DC area. Her dedication to equity and inclusion has helped shape policies and resources that empower queer families. When she’s not advocating for LGBTQ+ parents, she enjoys time with her lovely spouse, her pandemic pup, Tootsie, and special time with her two adult daughters.
- Children: 2
- Family-building journey: I am the proud mom of two young adult daughters in their twenties. I live in Silver Spring, MD, with my current wife, Judy, and remains BFFs with my ex-wife, Julie, who is the biological mom of our children. Julie and I built our family through assisted repro with an anonymous donor and were very fortunate to have a smooth path to conceiving, easy pregnancies and generally easy births if such a thing exists.
- Parenting advice: My best unsolicited advice to prospective parents or parents of younger children: first and foremost, keep your ego out of your parenting: Your kid doesn’t like sports and you’re a jock? Let it be, and help them find their passion; their rejection of sports is not a rejection of you! Your kid struggles in a formal education setting and you graduated summa cum laude? Back off—there is all kinds of intelligence! On a practical note, if you save for college in a 529 plan, and your kid doesn’t go to college or a trade school, you can’t use that money for anything else without a huge tax penalty, so consider other savings plans that allow you flexibility. Most of all, EAT YOUR KIDS UP while you can because they grow up and leave home, and while that chapter is also delightful and dynamic, you will miss seeing them, smelling them, and being annoyed by them every day.
