Who Counts as a Daughter? Post 7
Updated: 3 hours ago
What H.R. 9701 and S. 5152 Would Actually Do
Who Counts as a Daughter? Bloodline, Belonging, and the Limits of Reform in the Daughters of the American Revolution · Part 7 · First published 20 October 2026
Updated 22 October 2026
Less than three weeks after the June vote, the dispute inside the DAR became a question for Congress. Two bills would amend the Society's federal charter to define who may join. This post lays out what they say, where they stand, and the premises behind them. Claims are documented from the bill texts, the congressional record, and sponsors' statements.
The bills
H.R. 9701, the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, was introduced on 15 July 2026, by Representative Ben Cline of Virginia and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, with 20 original cosponsors, all Republicans.¹ As of 20 October 2026, 28 additional congressmen have signed on, once again, all Republicans.² Cline's required statement of constitutional authority cites Article I, Section 8, without naming a clause.³ It has not moved out of committee.
S. 5152, the Senate companion, was introduced on July 28 by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R) of Tennessee, with Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) as original cosponsors.⁴ On 22 September, Darlene Graham (R-SC) became the fifth cosponsor.5 It has also not moved out of committee.
Neither bill has had a hearing or a vote.
What they would change
The House bill would add a new section to the DAR's charter: "Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, eligibility for membership in the corporation shall be limited to an individual who—(1) is a woman; and (2) otherwise satisfies the genealogical and membership qualifications" of the Society.⁵
It then defines its terms. A woman is "an adult human female." A female is "a person who naturally has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that produces, transports, and utilizes the large gamete (ova) for fertilization."6 That language follows the approach of a January 2025 executive order, which defines "female" by reference to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.7
In practice, the bills would replace the Society's current standard, a state-certified birth certificate,8 with a federal statutory definition. As introduced, they don't say how the Society would determine an applicant's sex under it.
How the definition traveled
Over three years, the definition of "woman" sought by the restoration campaign changed shape:
2023: On the convention floor, a delegate argued for a chromosomal definition.9
2024: The Martha Laird Chapter's proposal defined a woman by chromosomes at conception and the original birth certificate.8
2026: The chapters' resolution asked that "woman" mean a woman born female.10
2026: The congressional bills adopted a reproductive-system definition from federal policy.6
The campaign began by asking the Society to define a word on its own terms. It ended with a bill asking Congress to define it on the government's.
The premise underneath
The sponsors frame the bills as protecting the Society's founding purpose. Cline called his bill "common-sense legislation" and said the Society had "embraced radical gender ideology."11 Representative Gary Palmer described the House bill as preserving the DAR's historic purpose, and Senator Britt framed the Senate bill as protecting women in spaces that are rightfully theirs.12 Cline's announcement listed endorsements from Concerned Women for America, the American Principles Project, Heritage Action, and Independent Women.¹
Those are appeals to founding intent, and members are entitled to make them. But as [Posts 5 and 6] showed, they aren't appeals to anything in the charter, which has never contained a membership provision. The bills wouldn't restore a lost requirement. They would create one, for the first time in 130 years, to overturn a decision the Society's members made under their own bylaws.
The Society has said publicly only that its governance process, not federal legislation, is how it has always set its membership criteria.13
What comes next
Most bills never pass, but even an unpassed bill shapes a debate. This one raises a question well beyond the DAR: if Congress can write membership rules into one Title 36 charter, what about the other ninety? That's coming up.
Update, 22 October 2026. On 20 October, the restoration campaign released a legal memorandum from the firm Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak, stating a purpose I haven't seen in the sponsors' own statements: enactment, it argues, would preempt the D.C. Human Rights Act, making a charter amendment "the cleanest path" for members who want a biological definition. The memo says its analysis also applies to "other longstanding women-only historical lineage societies," the question Post 8 takes up.¹⁴
Notes
Office of Representative Ben Cline, "Rep. Cline Introduces Legislation to Ensure the DAR's Membership Is Limited to Women," press release, July 15, 2026, https://cline.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2687.
Comment in Daughters Advocating for Restoration group on "Just met with my congress woman's chief of staff here in DC . . . ," Facebook, 25 September 2026, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1659132851538607. [Replace with the congress.gov cosponsors page.]
Rep. Ben Cline, Constitutional Authority Statement for H.R. 9701, Congressional Record 172 (July 15, 2026): H4545. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9701/cosponsors
"All Information (Except Text) for S.5152 – Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act," 119th Cong. (2025–2026), Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5152.
Senate Additional Cosponsor S.5152 – Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act," 119th Cong. (2025–2026), S4860, GovInfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2026-09-22/pdf/CREC-2026-09-22-pt1-PgS4860.pdf#page=1.
Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, H.R. 9701, 119th Cong. (2026) (as introduced, July 15, 2026), 2, https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-119hr9701ih.
Donald J. Trump, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," executive order, January 20, 2025, sec. 2, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/.
Kendall Tietz, "Daughters of the American Revolution Votes to Continue to Allow Transgender Members," Fox News, February 12, 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/media/daughters-american-revolution-votes-continue-allow-transgender-members.
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, "132nd Continental Congress, Thursday Business Session," June 29, 2023, video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/live/SsvXtKnLtOw; author's transcription.
Valerie Richardson, "Daughters of the American Revolution, Transgender Heading for Showdown at Annual Meeting," Washington Times, June 24, 2026, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/24/transgender-showdown-looms-daughters-american-revolutions-annual/.
Mathew Rodriguez, "After Daughters of the American Revolution Choose Trans Inclusion, GOP Rep Says, Wait, Maybe Democracy Is Only for When I Agree," Them, July 15, 2026, https://www.them.us/politics/ben-cline-daughters-american-revolution.
Wesley Walter, "Alabama Senators Join Push to Bar Transgender Women from DAR Eligibility," Alabama Political Reporter, July 30, 2026, https://www.alreporter.com/2026/07/30/alabama-senators-join-push-to-bar-transgender-women-from-dar-eligibility/.
Hanna Jones, "Hold the Line: Tradition vs. Trans-Formation in the DAR," IW Features, August 20, 2026, https://www.iwfeatures.com/commentary/hold-the-line-tradition-vs-trans-formation-in-the-dar/, originally published in Townhall, August 15, 2026.
Palmer Williams, Brandon Smith, and Andy Wilson, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC, to Daughters Advocating for Restoration Executive Committee, memorandum, "Legal Implications of Restricting Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Eligibility to Biological Females," 12 October 2026, released 20 October 2026, Daughters Advocating for Restoration Facebook page.
