The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), one of the largest patriotic women’s nonprofits in the world, betrayed its female-centric mission when it voted Friday to reject a resolution that would protect the organization from infiltration by males with altered birth certificates.
The resolution to limit membership to women, defined as “born female,” was defeated on June 26 in a 1,481 to 984 vote at the society’s 135th Continental Congress at Memorial Continental Hall in Washington, D.C.
The results ensure that, instead of keeping membership eligibility to “Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution,” the DAR will continue to permit men who meet the organization’s genealogical requirements and have a modified birth certificate to join chapters across the U.S. The defeat comes just one week ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Laura McDonald, treasurer of the Martha Laird DAR chapter in Mount Pleasant, Texas, and founder of the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, an organization dedicated to protecting the DAR’s female-only membership, told The Federalist that the voting members were told “the DAR does not have a First Amendment Right to define membership eligibility,” even though the Center for American Liberty previously confirmed that the DAR “would have a strong First Amendment defense” for limiting membership to women.
“By not providing an alternative opinion, we feel as though our officers’ Fiduciary Duty to make sure members are informed was breached,” she said.
DAR President General Ginnie Sebastian Storage followed the Friday vote with a note reminding members that “the decision of the voting members reflects the considered judgment of the membership assembled at the Continental Congress, and it deserves our respect.”
Storage, a member of the DAR’s trans activism Facebook group Daughters for Inclusivity, did not mention the resolution’s contents directly. Instead, she encouraged members to “move forward as one National Society, united in purpose and committed to the mission that has guided us for 135 years.”
“To any member who has felt discouraged or unwelcome: you are, and remain, a valued Daughter,” Storage added.
The vote and Storage’s attempt to brush past its implications serves as a shocking blow to the hundreds of DAR members, including those who have fought for years against national leadership to protect their female-only organization from infiltration by biological men pretending to be women.
“The vote that took place last week was supposed to happen on October 11, 2026, at a special meeting of the society, separate and apart from any regularly scheduled meeting, and called by over 90 chapters in 33 states, to focus solely on this issue,” McDonald said.
Instead, she said the DAR’s 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, and many members were confused and pre-occupied with Congress activities,” McDonald said.
The DAR was founded in 1890 after the 1889 (SAR) voted to exclude women from their patriotic organization. It explicitly exists to create a society “that would harness a desire for service that would help usher in the progressive era in the United States and create a legacy for future generations of women.”
To this day, the Sons of the American Revolution firmly limits its membership to males. Since 2023, however, the DAR has officially, sometimes without the knowledge of its members, welcomed men with altered birth certificates to its chapters across the U.S.
One of those men, a self-described “trans daughter,” celebrated the resolution’s failure on Friday shortly after the vote. Storage “loved” the post.
At least a dozen of DAR chapters tried to reject transing of their female-only organization by proposing amendments requiring members to prove their sex with an original birth certificate or DNA testing. The proposals satisfied the DAR’s bylaw standards for national review, but were unanimously rejected by the DAR’s National Board of Management in 2024.
In a letter obtained by The Federalist, DAR claimed to the Nevada Sagebrush Chapter that limiting membership to females only is not “suitable subject matter for inclusion in the bylaws and is not in the best interests of the society.” In another internal DAR document obtained by The Federalist, DAR leadership insisted “a transgender woman is not a man” and is “also not a man simply dressed as a woman.”
The national leadership’s commitment to accommodating delusional men at the expense of its core mission prompted an exodus of thousands of members from several of its chapters. As I documented in 2024, some DAR members were torn between resigning from the organization and staying involved so they could create opportunities to overturn the damaging policy.
Those who stayed in the DAR tried again in early 2025 to limit membership to women, defined as “a biological female at conception, having only naturally occurring X chromosomes, exclusive of Y chromosomes, and certified as female or girl on the original birth certificate.” DAR’s National Board of Management again rejected the bylaw amendment as “[un]suitable subject matter for inclusion in the bylaws and not to be in the best interests of the National Society” and refused to put it forward for a vote at the society’s Continental Congress.
By 2026, a coalition of frustrated DAR members led by McDonald successfully proposed a resolution that explicitly bars men, even if they have modified their birth certificates to appear female, from membership eligibility.
“Despite State and National Officers many attempts to silence the Assembly, Daughters all across the country have relentlessly pursued all avenues and have succeeded in their demand for a historic vote,” the Daughters Advocating for Restoration announced in April.
Ahead of the June 26 vote, the Daughters Advocating for Restoration hosted a rally attended by more than 200 members. Despite the vote’s outcome, the Daughters Advocating for Restoration aren’t backing down.
According to McDonald, the Daughters Advocating for Restoration are “still waiting for the President General to fulfill her duty to call a Special Meeting scheduled for October 11, 2026, in which all members must be notified of this resolution.”
“At this meeting we hope to be able to present a differing opinion so that members can make informed decisions,” McDonald said.
The Daughters Advocating for Restoration have raised more $56,000 to fund their goal to save the DAR from male infiltration. Approximately $30,000 of those funds came in on Sunday, shortly after the DAR’s vote.
“We raised more in one day than in 10 months,” McDonald said.
Jordan Boyd is an award-winning staff writer at The Federalist and producer of “The Federalist Radio Hour.” Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
