Daughters of the American Revolution Revolt Against Inclusion of Biological Men
For more than 120 years, the Daughters of the American Revolution has brought together the female descendants of Revolutionary War heroes to promote “historic preservation, education, and patriotism.” But now, faced with the prospect of biological men joining the esteemed society, DAR finds itself grappling with both resignations and indignation.
DAR organizers passed an amendment to the group’s bylaws in June that strikes out the line “provided an applicant for chapter membership is personally acceptable to the chapter,” The Daily Signal has learned. The amendment also added another line, specifically stating that the DAR cannot discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
President General Pamela Edwards Rouse Wright and other DAR leaders defended the move as necessary to preserve the group’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. But DAR members from around the country told The Daily Signal that this is just an excuse their leaders are using to push woke ideology upon the historical society.
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Members of the historical society who watched the 2023 Continental Congress told The Daily Signal that they aren’t sure everyone even knew what they were voting for. A video of the DAR’s congressional proceedings provides interesting insight into the matter: DAR leader Wright does not appear to have a firm grasp on what changes the controversial amendment will bring about.
Video from the event shows DAR delegate Jennifer Mease, from the Liberty Bell Chapter in Pennsylvania, questioning Wright as to whether chapters could still vote against admitting biological men who “identify” as female and have changed their birth certificates to match their preferred gender identity.
“If a person’s certified birth certificate states ‘female,’ they are eligible for membership, and your chapter cannot change that,” Wright responds, to scattered applause.
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Wright and her colleague then momentarily disappear from video view as they get their facts straight. When Wright returns, she emphasizes that, going forward, anyone with a certified birth certificate that says they are a female may be eligible for a chapter. [The confusion is over altered birth certificates with a changed gender.]
“Your chapter can still vote if you have voting in your bylaws,” she tells Mease. “You cannot discriminate.”
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Mease responded politely as she questioned Wright during the Continental Congress.
But shortly afterward, she resigned from the DAR.
In a July 3 email obtained by The Daily Signal, she told the DAR’s organizing secretary general, Nancy Wright, that she was “unable to reconcile” the DAR’s stance with her fundamental religious belief that “God created men and women as distinct and separate genders.”
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In phone interviews with The Daily Signal, a slew of outraged DAR members pushed back against the idea that it is discrimination only to allow biological women in their society. Almost all members who spoke with The Daily Signal pointed to their religious beliefs and the science of biological sex as they disputed the notion that a man could become a woman.
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“We’re a women’s society,” she said. “We should be fighting for women. This goes against everything our patriots fought for. They fought against these taxes being unfairly put on us. … We love our country. We want patriotism. We don’t back down from fights.”
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“The fact that the DAR is worried that they’ll lose their tax-exempt status, I’d be willing to take that one to the Supreme Court,” she added. “The fact that you don’t allow transgender people in should have no effect whatever. … I just think they are using this as a cudgel to beat us into submission.”
Biological men who wish to join an organization like the DAR can join the Sons of the American Revolution, as Kerry Zimmerman pointed out to The Daily Signal. Back in the 1800s, Zimmerman said, women asked to join the Sons of the American Revolution—and were told “no.”
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