It is more than a little ironic that in the middle of the celebration of 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, one of the nation’s oldest historical organizations, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), voted down an effort to ban men who say they are women from membership. If men live in a state that allows the gender-confused to change their birth certificates — and if they can prove they are descended from an American patriot — they are in.
Texas doesn’t allow individuals to change sex on birth certificates, so the DAR rule doesn’t apply here, but the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s refusal to ban men at their annual Continental Congress in June has crippled an organization that should be helping Americans understand and remember who they are — particularly now.
My great, great, great, great grandfather, Richard Sylvester, left his farm in Western Massachusetts and marched over 100 miles to Saratoga, New York to fight what turned out to be two critical battles in the American Revolutionary War. He was part of the Massachusetts Militia that defeated the British forces there, providing what some historians argue may have been the first realization among the British military leadership that the numbers, firearm proficiency and mobility of farmers and tradesmen who made up the colonial militias would ultimately make the Americans impossible to defeat.
To join DAR, I had to provide the receipts to prove I am descended from the Richard Sylvester who fought at Saratoga. Every woman who is a member of DAR has a story like mine, and the purpose of the organization is to make sure nobody forgets them. At least, that was the purpose until recently, when the organization was driven off-track from its mission by an ugly bylaws fight ending with an irregular and contested voting process and a final tally of 1,481 over 984 — in favor of admitting men who think they are women into the organization.
What is particularly appalling about this baffling move is that over the last several decades, DAR has been broadening America’s understanding of our nation’s founding by recognizing the wide swath of people who were in the fight for American independence. The early involvement of the people of Texas, for example, is reflected in the DAR membership of increasing numbers of Hispanic women whose ancestors were residents of what was then Spanish Texas, where they played an important role in providing food and money to the Continental Army.
That said, there is no denying that the DAR’s history with African Americans is inexcusable. It includes a “whites only” performance policy at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. that excluded famous opera singer Marian Anderson in the 1930s. That outrage moved First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign in protest, but even that would-be wake-up call didn’t make a difference. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when the organization was threatened with the loss of its tax-exempt status, that the DAR backed down and began to actively recruit the descendants of African-American and Native American patriots.
The threat of legal repercussions appears to be what fueled DAR members to vote against excluding male members this summer after they received a sketchy legal opinion from a former Biden attorney who warned that the DAR could be sued for discrimination. Apparently, what he did not clarify is that the DAR might be in violation of the District of Columbia’s local civil rights ordinance, which includes gender confusion. There doesn’t appear to be much likelihood of federal discrimination liability. There is also a Sons of the American Revolution, so it is not as if men have no alternative. Although admitting men to DAR has nothing to do with gay rights, the LGBTQ+ movement is cheering the DAR vote as a giant step forward for gender-confused men.
But it is at least three steps backward for DAR. At a time when expanded access to DNA has created an unprecedented interest among American’s in their ancestry, it is particularly perplexing that the DAR has allowed itself to become a beachhead in a gender identity war that men are rightfully losing. While most Americans believe every individual should be treated with dignity, a majority of Americans also believe biological men should not be allowed in women’s restrooms, half support restrictions on health procedures that help men look more like women and almost 80% support restrictions on men in women’s sports. Gallup found last year that over half of Americans also believe changing gender is “morally wrong.”
The Supreme Court has upheld states that have to reined in efforts by gender-confused men to gain access to women’s locker rooms and restrooms, which is one more reason it is so puzzling that men are being successful in pushing their way into DAR now. The momentum is clearly moving the other way.
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has introduced legislation — the “Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act,” — that will amend the DAR federal charter to reinforce the biological reality that the Daughters of the American Revolution is only for women. Identical legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House.
Woman have a long track record of preserving America’s history. In 1872, when Boston city fathers slated the Old South Meeting House — the old church where over 5,000 people gathered to plan the Boston Tea Party — for demolition, the legendary “20 Women of Boston” raised over $400,000 to buy the land and save the building. In Texas, in 1902, Texas icons Clara Driscoll and Adina De Zavala saved both the Alamo Church and the Long Barrack to ensure the Shine of Texas Liberty would be preserved.
We have always been able to count on women to ensure the stories of our past are not lost. Unfortunately, right now, we can no longer count on the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
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