After the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) rejected a resolution defining “woman” as “born female,” the head of the Texas branch of DAR sent out an email threatening those who speak out against the decision. The vote on the resolution, held at Memorial Continental Hall in Washington, D.C. during DAR’s 135th Continental Congress, was 1,481 to 984.
“Please note that giving interviews to the press on National Society governance matters is a serious violation of NSDAR policy, which could result in disciplinary action against a member,” DAR Texas Regent Susan Johnston said in an email obtained by The Federalist.
In her email, Johnston urges members who are approached by the press to direct them to the DAR’s President General, “as she is the only individual who can speak for the national society.” The President General, Ginnie Sebastian Storage, is a member of the pro-trans Facebook group Daughters for Inclusivity that worked to defeat the resolution.
“To any member who has felt discouraged or unwelcome: you are, and remain, a valued Daughter,” Storage said in a note following the vote. Storage also demonstrated her support for the pro-trans side when she “loved” the post of a self-described “trans daughter” from her personal Facebook account.
Despite Storage’s clear ideological leanings, Johnston insisted that she is the only acceptable spokesperson for the organization. She continued: “Before you accept the claim that DAR’s leaders are corrupt, political, ‘woke,’ or otherwise harmful to our organization, take a few minutes to study the issue yourself. The world is not simply good versus evil, and the truth rarely lies at the extremes.”
This seems to call out the Daughters Advocating for Restoration, who chose the colors black and white to represent their side “to represent the spiritual battle that we’re in — the dark vs. the light — good vs. evil,” according to their website.
In Johnston’s email, she cited a legal opinion sought by DAR leadership from Samuel Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan and former Biden appointee. Bagenstos makes the case that the resolution defining “woman” would open the society up to losing its business license and tax-exempt status under D.C. law.
“The legal opinion was written by left-wing activist Professor Samuel Bagenstos, who worked for Eric Holder at DOJ and clerked for the notoriously radical Stephen Reinhardt,” Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway said in a post on X. “He has previously done legal work advocating for radical trans ideology.”
What Johnston failed to mention in her email is that members of the Daughters Advocating for Restoration have also sought legal counsel. DAR received a legal memorandum from the Center for American Liberty, a civil liberties nonprofit founded by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, that said it is legal for the organization to restrict membership to women only.
“DAR leadership has also raised the specter of the organization losing its tax-exempt status if it does not allow trans-identifying men to become members,” Dhillon said in the memorandum. “We conclude that such an outcome is highly unlikely.” Dhillon explained that any attempt to revoke the DAR’s tax-exempt status over the trans issue “would likely violate the DAR’s associational rights.”
At the Continental Congress, members were presented with the legal opinion from Bagenstos but were not allowed to read from or mention any other legal documents, according to Laura McDonald, founder of the Daughters Advocating for Restoration. Therefore, members were not presented with Dhillon’s countering memorandum.
This is one of many actions that DAR leadership have taken to prevent the restoration of the society to women-only. McDonald said she tried to contact state leadership several times about the issue with no luck.
“In the summer of 2024, I started reaching out to the Texas State Regent, asking for an audience with her,” she explained. “Unfortunately, she refused to meet with me or even speak with me over the phone. I was removed from the private DAR social media pages and only reinstated if I promised not to bring these issues up.”
The society was initially supposed to take the vote on this issue in October, McDonald explained in a Facebook post. However, the National Board of Management added it as an agenda item for the June Continental Congress, meaning many members didn’t know a vote was happening. “As a result, only about 3% of the membership were notified, and many members were confused and pre-occupied with Congress activities,” McDonald said in a post to Facebook.
