The Daughters of the American Revolution leadership has nixed a proposal to ban biological males, fending off for the second time a membership revolt against male-born transgender applicants.
The DAR National Board of Management voted Saturday to reject proposed bylaw amendments clarifying that a woman eligible for membership is “defined as biological female at conception.”
Lanabeth Horgen, DAR recording secretary general, told the organization’s Martha Laird Chapter in a letter that the board found the amendments “not to be suitable for inclusion into the bylaws and not to be in the best interest of the Society.”
“The proposed amendments will not be forwarded to the 134th Continental Congress,” Ms. Horgen said Saturday in the letter. “The National Society will continue to rely on its long-standing policy to accept state-certified birth certificates and will not introduce requirements for chromosomal DNA tests to establish an applicant’s sex.”
The proposal would have required an applicant to take a DNA test to determine “naturally occurring X chromosomes, exclusive of Y chromosomes,” or submit a notarized, sworn statement affirming that their birth certificate is an unaltered original document.”
The Martha Laird Chapter in Mount Pleasant, Texas, offered the amendment over concerns about male-born members being accepted into DAR chapters based on revised birth certificates.
Many states have processes allowing individuals to change the gender marker on their birth certificates under certain conditions, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
“Currently there are men who are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution,” Mark Trammell, executive director of the Center for American Liberty, told The Washington Times.
DAR officials had previously expressed fears that rejecting transgender applicants would threaten the nonprofit organization’s tax-exempt status, prompting the Martha Laird Chapter to request a legal analysis from the center.
In a Jan. 15 memo, the center said that the First Amendment “likely protects the DAR’s right to limit its membership based on sex and gender identity,” and that it was “highly unlikely” that banning biological males would put the group’s tax-exempt status at risk.
Mr. Trammell said the center was “deeply disappointed” by the board’s vote, saying the organization has “chosen to bow to political pressures, despite the strong legal protections in place.”
He noted that the DAR “has always been a women’s organization, distinct from the Sons of the American Revolution, which already exists to honor the men of the American Revolution. It’s hypocritical and unacceptable.”
Laura McDonald, recording secretary for the Martha Laird Chapter, said the group was “disappointed but not discouraged.”
“The rejection by the National Board of Management of our proposal to define a woman in our bylaws sadly confirms what we knew along — that leadership is taking a political stance which is not based on fears of the loss of 501(c)(3) nonprofit status,” she said.
Ms. McDonald said members have prepared another proposal for the chapter to consider at its March meeting that would “accommodate the concerns the NBOM addressed in their rejection letter.”
The DAR has been dogged by the issue since the first known male-to-female transgender member joined in 2022.
In 2023, the 132nd Continental Congress approved an amendment banning discrimination based on “sexual orientation,” which has been interpreted to include male-born members who identify as female.
Months later, 12 chapters introduced a bylaw amendment to ban biological males, but it was rejected by the National Board of Management in February 2024 and never went before the Continental Congress for a vote of the membership.
DAR President General Pamela Wright said in a subsequent newsletter that a “government-issued birth certificate continues to serve as acceptable proof of eligibility.”
“Some have asked if this means a transgender woman can join DAR, or if this means that DAR chapters have previously welcomed transgender women. The answer to both questions is yes,” Ms. Wright said, according to the Independent Women’s Forum.
As many as 3,500 DAR members have left the organization in recent years over the transgender-membership issue, the center said in its memo.
The DAR was founded in 1890 to promote patriotism, education and historic preservation a year after the founding of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Membership is limited to women older than 18 who can prove a “lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.