The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is challenging the admission of transgender people

Historical Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which currently allows transgender members to join its chapters, noted that the policy is necessary for the DAR to maintain its tax-exempt status. But a local chapter in Texas is questioning that premise with the help of the Center for American Liberty (CAL).

CAL drafted a letter to DAR leadership, arguing that the policy of excluding natal males, including natal males who identify as female, from eligibility for membership is legal and would not jeopardize DAR’s tax-exempt nonprofit status, according to a revised memorandum by Fox News Digital.

In September 2024, the Martha Laird Chapter, supported by 11 other chapters, submitted a proposed bylaw amendment to bar all men, including trans-identifying men, from DAR membership.

“A woman is defined as a biological female at the time of conception, having naturally occurring X chromosomes, excluding Y chromosomes, and confirmed as female or girl on the original birth certificate,” the proposed law states. “NSDAR and its branches shall not discriminate against an eligible applicant.”

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The DAR Board of Directors is scheduled to consider the amendment at its next meeting on February 8. If approved, the proposed bylaw amendment will go to the full DAR membership for a vote at the upcoming Continental Congress this summer.

“We’re going to continue to do this every year until we at least get a vote in the Continental Congress,” Laura McDonald, a member of the Martha Laird DAR chapter, told Fox News Digital. “That’s the only fair and transparent way to resolve this.”

CAL, on behalf of the Martha Laird Texas Chapter of the DAR, argues that the organization’s members have a First Amendment right to exclude trans-identifying men from eligibility.

“To the extent that state and local public accommodation statutes can be interpreted to require the DAR to accommodate transidentifying males, such a requirement would likely violate the DAR’s First Amendment rights if the DAR found that such a requirement would interfere his ability to advance his intended message,” the memo said.

Additionally, they argue that while nonprofits risk losing nonprofit status if they act in a manner that is illegal or contrary to “national public policy,” it is unlikely that DAR, a genealogical association that limits membership to natal females, violates national public policy.

“To our knowledge, the IRS has never revoked a gender-based nonprofit’s status based on the fact that the organization excluded trans-identified men from membership,” the memo said. “Furthermore, the DAR currently excludes men who do not identify as transgender from eligibility.”

“This exclusion constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex, which is normally prohibited by public accommodation laws, but to our knowledge, the IRS has never held that the exclusion of men from a private organization’s membership rolls is contrary to national public policy,” the memo continues.

The DAR was founded in 1890 as a place for women who shared a commitment to honoring Revolutionary War patriots and promoting historical preservation, because they could not join their male counterparts in the Sons of the American Revolution. It is known that members must trace their lineage back to those who helped fight for American independence.

“The fact that we’ve excluded men since our inception … we should have lost our nonprofit status a long time ago or we never got it at all,” McDonald said.

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In June 2024, former DAR member Brenda Becker spoke with Fox News Digital on her resignation from the organization in protest following changes to the bylaws that said chapters cannot “discriminate against an eligible applicant on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law,” which led to criticism that biological men who identify as transgender women could be part of the group. But the organization noted that this had already been the case.

“This is the literal epitome of gaslighting because, first of all, they tell members that nothing has changed in their admissions process since the beginning when we were founded in 1890, that only women are eligible for membership,” McDonald said. “But then they say that a man who claims to be a woman is a woman, and therefore eligible for membership. But if you are a man who does not claim to be a woman, you are not eligible for membership.”

The updated language has been criticized for its vagueness, s some members express confusion last year about whether that would mean transgender women could join. In a document titled “Answers to Frequently Asked Member Questions Regarding Transgender Women in the DAR,” which was shared with Fox News Digital, the organization’s leadership confirmed that transgender members are allowed to join.

Since the organization announced the amendment during the 2023 DAR Continental Congress, more than 500 DAR members and former members have sent nearly 3,000 messages to DAR leadership expressing displeasure with the bylaw change, according to New Tolerance Campaign (NTC). Members opposed to the change claim that unless the rules are overturned, they will be forced to share changing rooms, toilets and hotel rooms with biological men.

Becker told Fox News Digital that she and other women feel cheated, adding that it’s ironic that someone can join the DAR using an altered birth certificate while membership depends on accurate biographical information.

McDonald said her chapter’s new proposal also requires either a DNA test to confirm female gender or an affidavit stating that the birth certificate the applicant is submitting has not been altered in terms of gender. She added that this is especially important because the organization does not usually allow altered birth certificates to serve as proof of admission.

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“If I were to adopt a girl right now, she wouldn’t be able to use her altered birth certificate to get into DAR, using my line, my biological line,” McDonald explained. “She would have to dig up her original birth certificate and jump through all these other hoops that other candidates can’t prove to prove her biological lineage.”

“DAR says, ‘Hey, man, if your country issued you a new birth certificate, it’s an altered birth certificate, it’s not the original, but it says you’re female, we’ll accept it. We won. I’m not going to make you look for your original document,'” she said.

“But, ‘Hey, woman. If you’re adopted and you have a birth certificate that says your mother is a patriot, but she’s not your biological mother, you can’t use that. You have to go through all these extra hoops,'” she added. – For me, it is a form of discrimination.

McDonald also believes the cultural tide is changing.

“Everybody realizes that this trans ideology, this agenda of men infiltrating women’s spaces, is no longer popular and not as accepted,” McDonald said.

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Eric Sell, associate litigation counsel at the American Freedom Center and Schilman Legal Fellow, shared a similar analysis, arguing that allowing men and transgender men to identify as members of the organization is highly unpopular among DAR members.

“The only reason the bylaw changes didn’t pass last time is because those members were told they had to do it or they would lose their nonprofit status or be subject to some other type of legal penalty,” he said.

“It’s pretty clear in the case law that the DAR has this First Amendment right, and they could use that as a defense if, in the unlikely event, some government actor took enforcement action against them,” he added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Daughters of the American Revolution for comment, but has not yet heard back.