A new bill in Congress would amend the charter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to clarify that men who claim to identify as women cannot join the ladies’ genealogical society. A key leader of a coalition against men in the DAR told the Daily Signal that the bill would “solve all our problems.”
“This is the answer to prayer and would solve all our problems,” Laura McDonald, founder and president of Daughters Advocating for Restoration and a member of Daughters of the American Revolution since 2018, told the Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday.
McDonald said the organization is in a “governance crisis.” She accused the DAR’s leadership of foisting transgender ideology on the society and requiring chapters to admit men who claim to identify as women. She helped lead dozens of chapters in submitting a resolution to clarify the bylaws and reverse this state of affairs. Members voted down the resolution at the organization’s convention last month, but DAR chapters are continuing to demand another vote.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., introduced the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act Wednesday. The bill would amend the society’s congressional charter along the lines of McDonald’s resolution.
“The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded to honor and preserve the legacy of the women whose ancestors helped secure America’s independence,” Cline told the Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday. “For generations, it has celebrated and empowered women while safeguarding its lineage-based mission.”
“But, as America celebrates 250 years of freedom, the organization has departed from those founding principles by embracing a radical, leftist gender ideology at the expense of the women it was created to serve,” the congressman lamented. “My bill, the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, amends the DAR’s congressional charter to ensure biological men cannot become members of an organization aimed to celebrate our nation’s true daughters.”
The Daughters of the American Revolution did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Sons Becoming Daughters?
The women who founded the DAR in 1890 did so after the Sons of the American Revolution refused to admit women. The current transgender issue dates back to at least 2022, when a New Jersey chapter reportedly accepted a man in 2022, inspiring backlash.
Organizers of the DAR changed the group’s bylaws in 2023, barring local chapters from discriminating on the basis of gender, religion, or sexual orientation. The group’s president general said the new policy would require chapters to admit men who claimed to identify as women, so long as they changed their birth certificates. Many members reportedly resigned following the new policy.
At least 68 chapters in 27 states signed a resolution demanding a vote to clarify the bylaws. In relevant part, the resolution states:
“Resolved, That in Article III, Section 1 of the Bylaws, the term ‘woman’ shall be understood to clearly mean a woman who was born female, and therefore, individuals who were born male shall not be eligible for membership; transgender women shall not be eligible for membership; and men who have their birth certificates changed from male to female shall not be eligible for membership.”
According to McDonald, the DAR bylaws require a separate meeting to address the resolution, but the DAR leadership held the vote at the society’s annual Constitutional Convention instead. Members reportedly voted, 1,481 to 984, against the resolution, though McDonald harbored many concerns about the voting process. Ahead of the vote, the DAR leadership distributed a legal memo opposing the resolution.
Cline’s bill defines “woman” as “an adult human female,” and “female” as “a person who naturally has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that produces, transports, and utilizes the large gamete (ova) for fertilization.”
Amending the Daughters of the American Revolution Charter
“Our congressional charter was granted on the premise that the DAR is a genealogical society made up of women,” McDonald, the Daughters Advocating Restoration leader, told the Daily Signal. “To knowingly admit males is a violation of that agreement and a violation of our national bylaws.”
Fox News Digital, which first reported on Cline’s bill, noted that Concerned Women for America, the American Principles Project, the Independent Women’s Forum, and Heritage Action for America endorsed the legislation.
“Until the Left gave up on biological reality, it was understood The DAUGHTERS of the American Revolution was a women’s only group,” Dan West, Heritage Action’s government relations director, told the Daily Signal. “Rep. Cline’s self-evident legislation reaffirms that membership in this storied institution is reserved for women and prevents confused men from interfering in a federally chartered women’s society.”
“Heritage Action will not allow woke virtue-signaling to degrade historic organizations like the DAR,” West added.