America's 250th anniversary was supposed to be the greatest moment in Daughters of the American Revolution history.
Instead they spent it mired in a war over whether men can call themselves daughters.
A Texas chapter that has stood since 1942 just found out what happens when women push back.
America Turned 250 and DAR Spent the Year Fighting Over Transgender Membership
In June, Daughters of the American Revolution’s national membership gathered for their annual Continental Congress and voted 1,481 to 984 to keep biological men eligible for membership.
The vote settled nothing.
The Martha Laird Chapter of Texas had been leading the resistance since September 2024, when it joined with 11 other chapters to submit a proposed bylaw amendment.
The amendment asked a simple question: should the word Daughters mean biological women?
DAR's National Board of Management rejected it in February 2025, and the chapter kept pushing.
The national leadership gave them their answer.
The Martha Laird Chapter in Texas Stood Its Ground and Got Disbanded for It
The National Board of Management voted to dissolve the Martha Laird Chapter – a chapter founded in 1942 – by a two-thirds majority.
The official charge: a violation of Article XIX, Section 4 of the national bylaws.
DAR's official statement tries to thread a needle – claiming the dissolution was about officers using chapter resources "to further the goals of a separate advocacy organization," not the views themselves.
Nobody believes that.
"But, then they go on to say that a man who claims he's a woman is a woman, and therefore he's eligible for membership," chapter member Laura McDonald had already told Fox News. "But if you are a man that doesn't claim to be a woman, you're not eligible for membership."
"The women of the Martha Laird Chapter in Texas stood their ground," said conservative California superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw. "They sought to preserve a definition of 'Daughters' based on biological sex and asked for a clear vote. On October 10, national leadership dissolved their chapter."
"Why should women be punished for standing up for the very definition of the organization they belong to?" Shaw asked.
A chapter that had stood since 1942 is gone now.
DAR Was Founded for Biological Women in 1890 and Congress Plans to Restore It
DAR was founded in 1890 for one reason: the Sons of the American Revolution voted to exclude women.
Women who wanted to honor their patriot ancestors had nowhere to go – so they built their own organization.
For 136 years, DAR gave women who could trace their bloodlines to American patriots a home that was theirs alone.
Now DAR's national leadership is doing to its own members exactly what the Sons of the American Revolution did to women in 1889 – throwing them out for saying only women should run a women's organization.
Congress noticed.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., introduced the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act in July, backed by 34 House co-sponsors, to amend DAR's federal charter and bar biological men from membership.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., followed with a Senate version weeks later.
"Rather than honoring and preserving a lineage-based organization for women, it has embraced radical gender ideology at the expense of the women it was created to serve," Cline said.
Heritage Action, Concerned Women for America, the American Principles Project, the Independent Women's Forum, and the Alliance Defending Freedom all endorsed the legislation.
The Center for American Liberty also stepped in to help – specifically challenging DAR leadership's claim that excluding biological male applicants could cost the organization its tax-exempt status.
That was always the threat behind the throne.
The Same Playbook Dismantled Girl Scout Troops in 2011 and Just Came for DAR
The Martha Laird Chapter is the latest casualty in a war being waged inside every women's organization in America.
In 2011, Louisiana Girl Scout troops disbanded when national leadership accepted a boy as a member.
Leadership pushes gender ideology from the top, and any chapter that refuses to go along gets dissolved.
Members of the Martha Laird Chapter have until November 9 to find a new chapter home, and their dues will be refunded.
DAR holds a congressional charter, which means Congress has direct authority over its membership rules – authority that no vote of the National Board of Management can ever override.
Cline and Blackburn's legislation can reverse every decision DAR national leadership has made on this question.
The women of the Martha Laird Chapter fought inside the rules DAR gave them, and DAR dissolved them for it.
Congress doesn't have to play by those rules.
Sources:
- CJ Womack, "Daughters of the American Revolution axes chapter that challenged transgender membership," Fox News, October 11, 2026.
- "New Bill Addresses Transgender 'Governance Crisis' at Daughters of the American Revolution," Daily Signal, July 15, 2026.
- "Blackburn unveils bill to keep biological men out of Daughters of the American Revolution," Fox News, July 28, 2026.
- "Women Flee Daughters Of The American Revolution After It Admits Men," The Federalist, March 11, 2024.
- U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, "Tuberville, Blackburn Call for Men to Stay Out of Daughters of the American Revolution," Senate press release, July 28, 2026.
- U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, "Palmer Supports Legislation to Preserve the Integrity of the DAR," House press release, July 17, 2026.
