‘UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD’: Daughters of the American Revolution Leaders ‘Tilted’ Transgender Vote, Member Says

The Daughters of the American Revolution failed to adopt a resolution defining “woman” in the organization’s bylaws in a vote Friday, but campaigners claim that the vote did not meet the requirements in the organization’s bylaws, which require a separate meeting.

“While I believe the vote count was accurate on Friday, leadership tilted the procedural process in a way that favored the position that ‘transwomen are women,’ creating an uneven playing field,” Laura McDonald, founder and president of Daughters Advocating Restoration and a member of the DAR since 2018, told the Daily Signal Monday.

Members reportedly voted 1,481-to-984 against a resolution stating that the bylaws “should be interpreted in accordance with the intention of the society at the time the bylaw was adopted.”

The resolution states:

“Resolved, That in Article III, Section 1 of the Bylaws, the term ‘woman’ shall be understood to clearly mean a woman who was born female, and therefore, individuals who were born male shall not be eligible for membership; transgender women shall not be eligible for membership; and men who have their birth certificates changed from male to female shall not be eligible for membership.”

DAR organizers changed the organization’s bylaws in 2023, barring discrimination. The group’s president general said the new policy would require chapters to admit men who claimed to identify as women, so long as they changed their birth certificates. Many members reportedly resigned following the new policy.

A New Jersey chapter had reportedly accepted a transgender member in 2022, spurring backlash.

McDonald noted that, while the vote did not endorse the pro-biology resolution, it did not enshrine transgender identity into the bylaws, either.

“The DAR did not vote to amend the national bylaws to allow biological males to be eligible for membership,” she said.

McDonald gave four reasons for another vote on the resolution.

1. A Special Meeting

The DAR bylaws require the organization’s president general to call a special meeting at the request of at least 30 chapters in 10 states. Yet, rather than hold a special meeting, DAR leadership opted to add the resolution on biological sex to the agenda of the group’s annual Constitutional Convention.

“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 … to focus solely on this issue,” McDonald said.

2. 100% of Membership Must Be Notified

McDonald insisted that the bylaws require DAR leadership to notify the entire membership before any such session.

“Instead of calling the special meeting for the requested date, the National Board of Management added this as an agenda item for the Continental Congress, bypassing the requirement that 100% of the membership must be notified about this resolution,” she argued. “As a result, only about 3% of the membership were notified.”

3. Only One Legal Opinion

When DAR members arrived at the Constitutional Convention, they received a three-page legal opinion effectively arguing against the resolution.

McDonald told the Daily Signal that leadership “prohibited” members from “reading, quoting, referencing, or relying upon any other legal opinion.”

Samuel Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan, wrote the memo. He served as general counsel to the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden, as the department advocated for experimental transgender medical interventions. His University of Michigan biography notes that he drafted and issued “major rules” on “the treatment of LGBTQ+ kids in the foster care system.”

Bagenstos’ memo, previously published by The Daily Wire, claims that “implementing the proposed resolution would expose the National Society to significant risk of being found in violation of the District of Columbia Human Rights Law.” The memo suggests that defining women as biological females would involve discrimination against men who claim to identify as women.

Bagenstos did not immediately respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Yet McDonald noted that Harmeet Dhillon—who currently serves as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department under President Donald Trump—previously wrote a memo on the issue, coming to the exact opposite legal conclusion.

The DAR “likely has a First Amendment right to exclude trans-identifying men from eligibility regardless of any contrary public accommodation laws,” Dhillon’s memo, published before she joined the Justice Department in 2025, states.

The memo finds that the DAR’s right to expressive association would protect such a policy.

“This opinion was not offered to members alongside Bagenstos’ opinion,” McDonald told the Daily Signal.

4. Voting Irregularities

McDonald also claimed that, during the vote on Friday, the presiding officer said the voting process faced “integrity issues,” and the convention held a second vote, with an hourslong process.

“The voting process was marked by procedural concerns, including restrictions on differing viewpoints, the distractions of Congress activities, a lengthy voting process, confusion surrounding a second vote, and reports from members that they were discouraged from leaving, even briefly, during voting,” she told the Daily Signal.

For all these reasons, McDonald said she and her fellows “await the president general’s call for a special meeting on October 11, 2026.”

“After what took place last week, members of the DAR are more resolute than ever,” she told the Daily Signal. “The restoration movement is stronger than ever.”

The National DAR did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.