Proposed Resolution For The Daughters of the American Revolution To Be For Natural Born Females Fails Amidst Controversy

The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 after the Sons of the American Revolution refused to admit women into their organization. Some of the original co-founders of the DAR included a great-grandniece of George Washington, Eugenia Washington. With Caroline Lavina Scott Harrison, the wife of President Benjamin Harrison, being interested in historic preservation, Caroline served as the DAR's first President General. Using her position in the organization to help establish the historical preservation aspect of The Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2019, the DAR celebrated their one-millionth member since its founding in 1890. Now, however, in an ironic twist of history, men are joining The Daughters of the American Revolution.

With the Daughters of the American Revolution being a society that bases its membership on being a genealogically proven female descendant of a Patriot in The American Revolution, the men who are joining the DAR are doing so through altered birth certificates and other altered materials. As, typically, the men who are joining the Daughters of The American Revolution are transgender men who have transitioned from male to female and now fancy themselves as full-fledged women. This has caused controversy within the non-profit organization as even natural born females who are adopted cannot join the DAR through their adopted family's lineage, but only through their birth parents' lineage.

In response to what many of the members of the DAR perceive as a double-standard, a group of DAR members was formed called Daughters Advocating for Restoration. With the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, led by Laura McDonald, proposing a resolution to be voted on at the DAR's annual convention called The Continental Congress on Friday, June 26th, 2026. Said resolution was to amend the bylaws of the DAR to specify that membership was for natural born females, only. With excitement, the delegates at the Continental Congress who are also members of the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, appeared to vote for their resolution on Friday, June 26th, 2026. Yet, as soon as the original votes were cast, they were informed before the votes were even counted that there was fraud alleged in the voting and there would be a second round of ballots passed out for the vote on the resolution.

The second round of ballots raised a lot of questions in the minds of the Daughters Advocating Restoration as it was never anticipated that a second round of voting would be needed, yet, the national leadership of the DAR already had a second round of ballots printed. Members then experienced a hostage type of situation as they had but twenty minutes to rush to the restroom or not be let back in to Constitution Hall to go through another lengthy round of voting. The time constraint led to many members not being allowed back in to vote during the second round. With some members of the DAR reporting that they had no access to a restroom, food, or water for over seven hours throughout the whole ordeal.

The unanticipated second round of voting also led to the Education Luncheon which was scheduled for 12:30PM at the JW Marriott hotel, to be cancelled. It was a luncheon in which young students throughout the country who had won various essay contests sponsored by the DAR were to be honored and given the chance to read their essays. Yet, all of the students and their families who made the trip to D.C. to be honored, did not get to celebrate the achievement. As so many of the DAR delegates were stuck in Constitution Hall for the second round of voting that the awards program could not be held.

Ultimately, the questionable second round of voting, did not yield the results hoped for by the Daughters Advocating for Restoration. 1228 votes were needed in favor of the resolution for it to pass. 981 votes were cast in favor of the resolution, but 1474 were cast against it. Resulting in the resolution failing to pass. Leading to many of the members of the DAR planning to resign from the organization. As they are given the impression that the national leadership of the organization is more concerned about the possibility of losing the organization's tax exempt status rather than respecting the original purpose of the organization.

For the DAR owns property in D.C. since it owns and operates the DAR Constitution Hall on D Street Northwest which is located close to The White House. The hall is the largest auditorium in Washington D.C. and every President of The United States of America from Calvin Coolidge through 2024, has attended at least one event in Constitution Hall. While at present there are no known examples of the IRS or D.C. revoking a women's organization's tax exemption because it excluds trans-identifying men, the national leadership of j8the DAR expressed concern that the non-profit organization might lose its Federal 501 ( c ) 3 status and be subject to heavy D.C. property taxes. While the Daughters Advocating for Restoration have found that the loss of the society's federal or District of Columbia tax exemptions is highly unlikely, the leadership nevertheless persisted in working against the resolution proposed by the Daughters Advocating for Restoration.

At present, the Daughters Advocating for Restoration is asking their members to not resign from the DAR, just yet. As they need time to regroup and decide which direction to take their proposed resolution. Yet, a similar organization that bases its qualifications for membership on genealogy, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, did pass a resolution similar to the one proposed by the Daughters Advocating for Restoration at their national convention in November of 2025. With the UDC defining women as persons documented as female at birth. Since many of the members of the DAR also qualify to be members of the UDC, some people are urging the members who wish to resign from the DAR to join the UDC.

In the meantime, the group formed in opposition to the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, Daughters for Inclusivity, is celebrating their victory at the Continental Congress. With many of them bringing up the orientation of Baron Von Steuben, the Prussian who helped train George Wahsington's army. For Baron Von Steuben is known to have been homosexual. A member of the DAR who is originally a man, Teagan Livingston, has expressed to the Daughters for Inclusivity that Teagan is "over the moon grateful tor DAR" and Teagan is "feeling so loved by so many I never had the pleasure of meeting."

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, poet, piano instructor, reporter, vocalist, and columnist who write on politics, current affairs, and the arts.