Palmer Backs Bill Defining DAR Membership

U.S. Representative Gary Palmer (R-AL-06) has joined a growing list of House Republicans backing legislation that would amend the federal charter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to limit membership to biological women who also meet the organization's existing genealogical requirements.

The Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, introduced by Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), would revise the congressional charter of the DAR to specify that membership is limited to "an individual who is a woman" who otherwise satisfies the organization's lineage requirements. According to Cline, the measure is intended to preserve the group's original purpose as a patriotic organization for women descended from those who supported American independence.

Palmer announced his support for the bill this week, arguing that the legislation restores what he described as the organization's historic mission.

"It should be common sense that to be a part of the Daughters of the American Revolution, you have to be a daughter. Unfortunately, common sense has become a casualty of the left's radical agenda," Palmer said.

"This legislation protects the integrity of the DAR by preserving its historic purpose. Congress will not allow radical activists to erase womanhood from one of our nation's oldest patriotic organizations. I am proud to cosponsor this bill, and I thank Rep. Cline for his leadership on this issue.”

In announcing the bill, Cline said the measure would restore the organization's founding purpose.

"The DAR has a longstanding tradition of celebrating and empowering women who represent the exceptional heritage of the birth of our Nation. However, as we celebrate America's 250th birthday, the organization has now abandoned the very principles on which it was founded. 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. The Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act is common-sense legislation that requires the Congressionally-charted DAR to return to serving the true daughters of the American Revolution."

Cline’s bill follows nearly three years of controversy within the DAR over its membership policy. The dispute began in 2023 after delegates approved bylaw changes adding broad nondiscrimination language. In October of that year, President General Pamela Rouse Wright confirmed that transgender women were eligible for membership, writing, "Some have asked if this means a transgender woman can join DAR... The answer to both questions is, yes." The organization also stated in a member FAQ that, "A transgender woman is not a man; a transgender woman is also not a man simply dressed as a woman. A transgender lives and identifies as a woman."

The policy prompted the formation of Daughters Advocating for Restoration, whose members have sought to restore a biological definition of "woman" to the organization's bylaws. According to the group, proposals to reverse the policy were repeatedly rejected by DAR leadership and the National Board of Management before delegates voted 1,481 to 1984 against a bylaw amendment limiting membership to those born female at the 2026 Continental Congress.

The controversy has also coincided with a decline in membership. Figures compiled from DAR reports show nearly 4,900 members resigned between July 2023 and February 2024, after which the organization stopped routinely publishing resignation totals. Critics, including Independent Women and Daughters Advocating for Restoration, contend many members left in protest of the organization's decision to admit biological males identifying as women, though DAR leadership has not attributed the membership decline to the policy.

(Editor’s note: a timeline of this controversy may be found at THIS LINK.)

The current legislation has drawn endorsements from several conservative organizations, including Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, American Principles Project, Heritage Action, and Independent Women. More than 20 House Republicans, including Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL-04), have signed on as cosponsors alongside Palmer.

The DAR was founded in 1890 and was granted a federal charter by Congress in 1896. Membership has long required applicants to prove direct lineal descent from an individual who aided the American cause during the Revolutionary War. The proposed legislation would leave those genealogical requirements unchanged while adding a biological sex requirement to the organization's federal charter.