A dividing line for Daughters of the American Revolution

WASHINGTON—The steps of Constitution Hall were still damp from afternoon rain when hundreds of women wearing pink exited the building last Friday. Many chatted excitedly, relieved to be done with a day dominated by two votes on a resolution many of them did not see coming. The resolution, proposed by conservatives in the organization, would have affirmed that membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) should be reserved for women who are female at birth.

Behind them, women wearing black and white stepped out looking dazed and tired. “This is certainly not what the original founding members had intended,” said one, delegate Patricia Beck, after the resolution failed to pass.

For several years, conservative members of the DAR like Beck have grown frustrated with leaders sidestepping questions about whether the group’s bylaws bar transgender members. They saw Friday’s vote as an opportunity to clarify the issue. Now they are deciding whether to stay or resign.

The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890, after the Sons of the American Revolution barred women. The DAR has since become a multimillion-dollar nonprofit with a congressional charter and a building near the White House. Members are required to prove lineal bloodline descent from the founding generation of soldiers, civil servants, and signers. They are also required to be women age 18 or over.

In 2023, the DAR amended the organization’s bylaws to prohibit discrimination against eligible applicants on the basis of race, religion, and sexual orientation. When asked about men with amended birth certificates, the president general said qualified applicants with a certified birth certificate that says “female” must be admitted.

Texas member Laura McDonald was concerned when she learned about the amendment. “My gut told me that if the Daughters knew, one, and then if they understood our rights, that they would not be going for this,” she told a group of about 200 women at a rally last Wednesday.

McDonald is president of Daughters Advocating for Restoration, a nonprofit educating members of the women’s-only organization about their rights. The group last year organized DAR chapters to call for a special October meeting to consider a resolution to affirm that membership should be reserved for women who can attest they were female at birth. The DAR executive committee opted to schedule the resolution vote to take place in June but has not yet confirmed the October meeting, McDonald says.

“We’ve got to make sure that we are above reproach about all of this. And we’re going to follow the rules,” McDonald instructed Restoration Rally attendees. Multiple women who spoke with WORLD at the event said leaders at multiple levels have shut them down when they ask about men who claim to be women joining the group.

The DAR did not respond to my multiple requests for comment.

On Friday morning, more than 3,000 delegates took their seats in Constitution Hall—supporters of the resolution wearing black and white, opponents wearing pink. McDonald told me her group’s motion to livestream the proceedings failed. The DAR also did not respond to my request for the recording. When debate opened, members supporting the resolution gave remarks they practiced on Wednesday.

“This is not a political concern. It is a genealogical one,” Tennessee delegate Renee Willingham Hamilton told the assembly. “If this society chooses to redefine a qualification for membership, we must acknowledge the tension that creates with the historical records upon which genealogy depends.” Other women testified about practical concerns, like men dressed as women being assigned to rooms with young mothers on DAR trips.

“My question was, if you’re not keeping records on who the transgenders are, how do you know there are transgenders in the DAR?” McDonald told me. “They said it was anecdotal, anecdotal evidence.”

In response, other members suggested DAR’s tax-exempt status could be threatened if the organization were to discriminate against transgender applicants for membership.

When it came time to vote for the resolution limiting membership to women, delegates stayed in their seats until all ballots were cast. If they left the room, even only to use the restroom, they were not allowed to reenter.

After she cast her ballot, McDonald said, she went down front to ask a question and was told to sit down. Vote tellers offered her a ballot, and she told them she had already voted. “And then I got to thinking, wait a second, what happens if somebody does that—they get up out of their seat and vote again?” she said. “And then the next thing I know, they’re saying that they’ve heard that there were people cheating.”

Leadership called for a revote, scuttling the afternoon schedule until delegates voted again—a three-hour process. Each delegate’s voter ribbon was snipped to ensure they voted just once. Results were announced after 8 p.m. Restoration Steering Committee member Barbara Wells reported the tally to me: 981 votes in favor, 1,474 opposed.

“I do feel like we got the vote we asked for,” McDonald said. “It just didn’t go our way.”

What happens next is not clear. McDonald says she and many others had staked their future membership on last week’s vote. Some have already joined other genealogical associations, like the National Society Descendents of American Farmers. Meanwhile, the United Daughters of the Confederacy has invited DAR members with Southern patriot ties to join the more conservative group. “This is not the only game in town. They do have a nice house, but that’s about it,” Hanna Jones, one of McDonald’s colleagues, said about the DAR.

But two days after the vote, McDonald posted a different message: “Ladies! HOLD THE LINE. IF YOU WERE A VOTING DELEGATE AT THIS YEARS CONTINENTAL CONGRESS DO NOT RESIGN YET.” She told WORLD while the results are disappointing, the vote has sparked a larger conversation ahead of the special meeting in October. “If that resolution had been adopted, I still don’t think very many members would have actually been notified.” She says media coverage following the vote has boosted engagement—and donations.

Back on the sidewalk on Friday, delegates Patricia Beck and Christine Gordon—mother and daughter—said the vote has not changed their resolve to restore the DAR. “We have blood of revolutionaries through our veins,” Gordon said. “We’re not going to be giving up too quickly.”

—This story was updated July 2 to remove an incorrect title for the group of women supporting the membership resolution at the June 26 DAR meeting.