The Daughters of the American Revolution have declared a stance on allowing transgender women among their ranks and they have decided to vote in favor of equality.
On June 26, The Daughters of the American Revolution—the DAR, for short—officially rejected a proposed ban on transgender women. Now this is a DAR that the post-Richard era Emily Gilmore would be proud to be a part of. She might even be able to coax Lorelai to join—with Rory’s help of course.
The long-awaited vote came after years of pressure within the DAR—a nonprofit historical preservation and education society created in 1890, composed of women with direct ancestry to soldiers in the American Revolutionary War—to exclude trans women from the organization’s definition of “woman,” which would effectively ban them from its ranks.
In 2023, the DAR officially joined the 21st century when they officially amended their guidelines to include language that protects trans members against discrimination in the application process. Though, not without some controversy, per The Washingtonian.
“Some have asked if this means a transgender woman can join DAR or if this means that DAR chapters have previously welcomed transgender women,” Pamela Rouse Wright, President of the DAR, writes in a newsletter on the bylaws. “The answer to both questions is, yes.”
“The new language does not change the criteria for membership,” DAR spokesperson Bren Landon confirmed to Newsweek.
After right-wing media outlets picked up the story and spun it with an anti-trans angle, implying a sudden and loosely thought-out policy change, a small group of members within the DAR began lobbying to ban transgender women from their ranks.
Some members even left the organization after DAR leadership made it clear that trans members were welcome, per The Washingtonian.
The governing body within the DAR rejected the first official proposal for bylaw amendments that would ban trans women in February of 2025, after its Texas chapter brought them forward.
After national lobbying from a group of members called Daughters Advocating for Restoration, which claims to advocate for “preservation of Historic American Societies for Women,” the proposed bylaw amendments that would exclude trans women from the DAR’s definition of women were added to matters put to a national member vote.
Laura McDonald, a member of the DAR leading the effort to ban trans women from joining, told IW Features that the group’s goal was to “close the loophole that allows men who self-identify as women to be eligible for membership,” deploying a common rhetorical dog whistle used by anti-trans individuals to advocate for the expulsion of trans women from public life. As a result of the anti-trans lobbying, Daughters for Inclusivity, a group of DAR members fighting back on the anti-trans effort to push trans women out of the organization, was formed in response.
“I cannot fathom that a group formed because of prejudice against women is now doing the same thing to our trans sisters,” one member wrote on the group’s Facebook page. “The irony is mind-blowing to me.”
The matter officially came to a head on Friday, June 26, at the 135th Continental Congress, where members voted 1,481-984 against defining woman as “born female,” allowing trans members of the DAR to remain.
“The movement against discrimination within the DAR is not about ‘special treatment’ or changing history. It is about treating every applicant and every member with dignity and respect,” another member writes on the group’s Facebook page. “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.”
Among a sea of allies celebrating the anti-trans effort being struck down in the Daughters for Inclusivity Facebook group, trans DAR members shared their relief and joy.
“I am one of those trans daughters,” Teagan Livingston, a DAR member since 2022, writes. “The comments I’m reading in this group offer hope. Although I likely don’t know any of you, thank you so very much for being such steadfast allies. In this current political climate, you’ve no idea how very much that means to me and other trans daughters!”
We’re glad to see that the DAR has finally joined us here in the present. Equality is the way—as it always should be.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
