So the Daughters of the American Revolution Have Rejected Anti-Trans Policy

I…I’m kind surprised by this one, I’ll be real with you.

Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash

I read recently that the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, have just decided to openly allow trans women in. Originally there were two requirements; a birth certificate saying you’re female and proof you’re descended from a patriot.

Trans women could join with a birth certificate amended to reflect gender rather than birth sex so some members wanted requirements amended to fix that “loophole.”

In 2023, the DAR responded by including language that trans women are allowed to join instead of just letting trans women in on a loophole.

This recently led to a right-wing push to purge the organization of trans women, leading to a Texas chapter proposing anti-trans changes to the bylaws in February 2025.

The leadership rejected that proposal but it doesn’t seem to have deterred right-wing members.

Instead there seems to be this tension between two different groups within the DAR; Daughters of Restoration who advocate for conservative ideals and Daughters for Inclusivity.

This fight has escalated to a big vote at the 135th Continental Congress where 1481 people voted to allow trans women in and 984 voted to keep them out.

Trans rights won.

I really liked this quote the Advocate included in their article.

“Transgender Americans are patriots, family members, volunteers, historians, and descendants of Revolutionary War ancestors just like anyone else. Excluding or targeting people because of their gender identity contradicts the values of respect, service, and sisterhood that the DAR claims to uphold.”

Of course the “gender critics” think the vote was rigged claiming they were huddled into a freezing conference hall for 12 hours with two 20 minutes bathroom breaks.

After allegations of cheating, the vote was held a second time but supposedly many members had left by then and only two-thirds were left.

Laura McDonald of the Daughters Advocating Restoration claimed the leadership didn’t hold the vote at the agreed time.

“[I]nstead of calling the special meeting for the requested date, the National Board of Management added this as an agenda item for Continental Congress, bypassing the requirement that 100% of the membership must be notified about this resolution. As a result, only about 3% of the membership were notified.”

I can’t refute all this I guess, I don’t know all the details but 1481 votes to 984? Isn’t that like 500 votes difference? That isn’t small and I don’t think “the conference was too cold and they held a secret second vote” explains how the vote could be rigged.

It sounds like the DAR really does accept trans women and these conservatives are a bit too Trump-pilled to admit it.

I’m a bit surprised to see all this myself. I guess the logic of being a women’s organization made to focus on women’s contribution to history explains it but it dates back to 1890 and I guess I just saw it as a bit of a colonialist institution.

People can surprise you.