October 28, 2026
**This message is being sent to all members.**
Dear Daughters,
For more than 135 years, the Daughters of the American Revolution has brought women together in service to our country. Generations of Daughters have preserved our history, supported education, honored those who served, and strengthened their communities. Our shared commitment to these purposes has always been the foundation of our National Society.
I write today to address questions about DAR’s membership requirements, the June vote at Continental Congress, and the National Board of Management’s recent decision to disband a chapter. These matters have generated strong feelings and raised important questions about our responsibilities to one another and to the National Society we are entrusted to preserve.
Our Membership Requirements
DAR has always been, and remains, a women’s membership and service organization dedicated to historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Since our founding in 1890, our governing documents have provided that “any woman” who meets the applicable age and lineage requirements may apply for membership.
The National Bylaws do not contain a sex-at-birth requirement, and DAR’s longstanding application procedures have never required applicants to establish their sex at birth. The proposal considered at the 135th Continental Congress would have imposed such a restriction, excluding transgender women whose official government records recognize them as female.
As a lineage society, DAR carefully verifies an applicant’s descent from a Revolutionary War Patriot through genealogical research and documentation. In administering the membership requirements of our Bylaws, the National Society has long relied on government-issued documentation as part of its established application procedures.
The National Society has not created a new category of membership or changed its requirements. Applications continue to originate with chapters, eligibility is reviewed by the Office of the Registrar General, and admission is determined by the National Board of Management under Article III of our National Bylaws.
As a charitable institution, employer, and organization serving the public, DAR has legal obligations extending beyond its membership. The District of Columbia, where the National Society is headquartered, prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in employment and public accommodations. Imposing a categorical sex-at-birth restriction that excludes transgender women, regardless of their legally recognized status, could create legal risks for the National Society that extend beyond membership itself.
The Decision of Continental Congress
At our 135th Continental Congress this past June, the voting members of the National Society considered a resolution seeking to restrict membership eligibility to women born female through a proposed interpretation of the word “woman” in our existing Bylaws. Following advance notice, a dedicated session was set aside for consideration of the resolution as the Special Order of Business. Voting members debated the resolution for nearly three hours before rejecting it by secret paper ballot, with the votes counted in their presence: 1,474 against and 981 in favor.
I recognize that some Daughters were deeply disappointed by that result, just as others were relieved. But its significance should not be minimized. The proposed resolution was presented to the National Society’s voting members, debated, and rejected through our established governing processes. The fact that the resolution was not adopted does not mean its proponents were denied a voice. Our delegates exercised their authority, and their decision deserves to be respected, even by those who disagree with it.
Individual Advocacy and the Responsibilities of Our Chapters
Following the June vote, the independent advocacy organization whose leaders developed and promoted the resolution considered at Continental Congress has continued its campaign to establish a sex-at-birth restriction on DAR membership. The organization has its own leadership, structure, funding, and objectives. Although its leaders and supporters include DAR members, it is not part of the National Society and has no authority to speak or act on DAR’s behalf.
It has also sought to involve DAR chapters directly in advancing its campaign. The organization has drafted and circulated resolutions, along with scripts and instructions for their adoption by DAR chapters; organized and publicly identified chapters supporting its campaign; and established separate referral and transfer networks directing prospective members and transferring Daughters to chapters supporting its position.
The organization has argued that DAR members should have a voice in determining the National Society’s membership requirements. At Continental Congress, our voting members exercised that voice and rejected the proposed restriction. Shortly afterward, the advocacy organization supported federal legislation seeking to impose substantially the same restriction through DAR’s congressional charter. The legislative effort would place a fundamental question of DAR membership eligibility in the hands of the U.S. Congress rather than the National Society’s own governing body.
Individual DAR members remain free to express their views about membership eligibility and advocate for changes to our Bylaws or to the law. But individual advocacy is fundamentally different from using the official authority and resources of a DAR chapter to advance an outside organization’s campaign. Chapters are constituent parts of the National Society. Their names, officers, communications, and resources carry DAR’s institutional identity and authority.
Our longstanding Non-Affiliation Policy protects the name and integrity of the National Society by limiting the use of DAR’s institutional identity in connection with outside organizations. Chapters exist to advance the National Society’s Objects—historic preservation, education, and patriotism—not to serve as instruments of an independent advocacy campaign, regardless of the cause being promoted.
Our National Society belongs to all of us. Its direction is determined through the governing processes established in our Bylaws, not through an outside advocacy organization or a separate network of chapters acting on its behalf.
The Martha Laird Chapter
On October 10, 2026, the National Board of Management voted to disband the Martha Laird Chapter in Texas.
The chapter was not disbanded because its members supported a more restrictive membership requirement, adopted or advocated a resolution, criticized national leadership, or disagreed with the outcome of the June vote. The Board’s decision concerned the chapter’s use of its official DAR authority and resources to advance an outside organization’s campaign, together with its failure to provide the information and records requested by the National Society concerning those activities.
After the chapter adopted a resolution introduced by a chapter officer who also founded and led the outside advocacy organization, that officer publicly identified the chapter as the “1st Resolute Chapter,” a designation created to promote chapters supporting the organization’s campaign. She also used her DAR chapter position and the official chapter email account to direct other chapters to submit resolutions in furtherance of that campaign.
Over several weeks, the National Society repeatedly requested information and records concerning these activities. Although the chapter submitted some materials, it did not provide the specific information and records requested by the National Society. Multiple chapter officers authorized a response challenging the National Society’s authority to require that information. After reviewing the chapter’s activities, the information and responses it provided, and the broader record before it, the National Board of Management determined that the chapter’s use of its official identity, authority, and resources to advance an outside organization’s campaign constituted conduct discrediting the National Society under Article XIX, Section 4 of our National Bylaws. The Board concluded that this conduct warranted disbandment.
Disbanding a chapter is a serious action, not undertaken lightly. It does not, by itself, terminate or suspend the individual DAR memberships of its members.
DAR chapters may participate fully in the National Society’s governance, including proposing changes to our Bylaws. But as constituent parts of the National Society, they may not use their official authority, identity, or resources to carry out an independent advocacy organization’s campaign. The National Society has a responsibility to ensure that its chapters operate in accordance with our Bylaws and the purposes for which DAR was established.
The DAR We Must Preserve
Our membership is for women. Our mission is for everyone.
Although DAR is a women’s membership organization, its facilities and programs serve the broader public. We preserve the places and records that tell our nation’s history. We support education, honor veterans, and promote understanding of the American Revolution and the principles on which our country was founded. Our museum, library, concert venue, historic properties, genealogical resources, and programs serve people from every background and walk of life.
What unites us as members is our commitment to historic preservation, education, and patriotism – not agreement on every issue dividing our country. We do not need to agree on questions of sex or gender identity to work together in service to DAR’s mission. Disagreement is not disloyalty, and no Daughter should be expected to surrender her personal convictions as a condition of membership. Our individual beliefs, however, do not alter the National Society’s responsibility to administer its Bylaws and comply with applicable law. Protecting the right to disagree and enforcing the rules that govern us are not competing obligations. Both are essential to the integrity of DAR.
I am also deeply troubled by the personal attacks and hostility that have accompanied the public debate over DAR’s membership requirements. Whatever our differences, no one should be subjected to ridicule, humiliation, or personal attacks because of who they are. The women whose membership has been questioned are not abstractions in a political debate. They are members of our National Society, and they deserve dignity and respect.
The National Board of Management and I will continue to uphold our National Bylaws, meet our legal obligations, protect every Daughter’s right to participate in our governance, and ensure that DAR and its chapters remain devoted to our mission.
DAR has endured for more than 135 years because its mission is larger than any one controversy, any one faction, or any one moment in our history. As our nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of American independence, we have an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate the enduring value of DAR’s work. I ask every Daughter to help us meet that responsibility. Our history, our mission, and the generations who will follow us deserve nothing less.
Thank you for your dedication to DAR and for all that you do in service to our country and our communities.
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Ginnie Sebastian Storage
President General