Gary Palmer

U.S. Rep Gary Palmer of Alabama has joined other House Republicans in supporting the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, a bill that would amend the DAR’s federal charter to limit membership to biological women who meet the organization’s existing ancestry requirements.

Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia introduced the legislation following years of debate within the DAR over its policy allowing transgender women to join. The organization adopted nondiscrimination language in 2023 and later confirmed that transgender women were eligible for membership if they met genealogical qualifications.

The DAR was founded in 1890 and was granted a federal charter by Congress in 1896. To become a member, applicants must prove direct lineal descent from an individual who aided the American cause during the Revolutionary War.

Cline’s bill would revise the DAR’s congressional charter to specify that membership is limited to “an individual who is a woman” who also satisfies the organization’s lineage requirements.

Palmer announced his support for the bill on Friday, saying the legislation “protects the integrity of the DAR by preserving its historic purpose.”

“It should be commonsense that to be a part of the Daughters of the American Revolution, you have to be a daughter. Unfortunately, commonsense has become a casualty of the left’s radical agenda,” he said.

“This legislation protects the integrity of the DAR by preserving its historic purpose. Congress will not allow radical activists to erase womanhood from one of our nation’s oldest patriotic organizations. I am proud to cosponsor this bill, and I thank Rep. Cline for his leadership on this issue.”

Palmer, a Republican from Hoover, is seeking his seventh term representing Alabama’s 6th District.

More than 20 House Republicans, including Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, have signed on as cosponsors. Several conservative organizations, including the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee and Independent Women, have endorsed the legislation.

The bill follows years of controversy within the DAR over its membership policy. The dispute began in 2023 when delegates approved bylaw changes that added broad nondiscrimination language. In October of that year, President General Pamela Rouse Wright confirmed that transgender women were eligible for membership.

In opposition to the policy change, Daughters Advocating for Restoration was formed. Members of the group have sought to restore a biological definition of a “woman” to the organization’s bylaws. According to the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, proposals to reverse the policy were repeatedly rejected by DAR leadership and the National Board of Management.

At the 2026 Continental Congress, delegates voted 1,481-1,984 against a bylaw amendment that would have limited membership to those born female.

The DAR has experienced a decline in membership. According to ALPolitics.com, nearly 4,900 members resigned between July 2023 and February 2024, after which the organization stopped routinely publishing resignation totals.

Critics argue that many members left in protest of the organization’s decision to adopt nondiscrimination language and accept transgender women, though DAR leadership has not linked the membership decline to the policy.