A Texas Chapter Pushed Back, and the DAR Dissolved It

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has dissolved one of its own chapters — the Martha Laird Chapter in Texas, the same chapter that spent two years pressing the 136-year-old organization to limit membership to biological women.

According to a letter from DAR Organizing Secretary General Marguerite Hogan Fritsch sent to chapter members and reported by Fox News Digital, the society's National Board of Management passed a resolution by two-thirds majority on Oct. 10 to disband the chapter. The letter said the chapter's conduct violated Article XIX, Section 4 of the national bylaws, a provision that allows the board to discipline or dissolve chapters that break the rules or bring discredit on the organization.

What the letter did not say is what the chapter actually did. It cited the bylaw and ordered dues previously remitted to the chapter refunded, but described no specific conduct — which leaves the reason for the vote contested.

What the Letter Says, and What It Leaves Out

The operative sentence is short. "On October 10, 2026, at the meeting of the National Board of Management of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution a resolution passed by two-thirds majority vote to disband the Martha Laird Chapter, NSDAR," Fritsch wrote. A second line states that the chapter's actions "have been found in violation of Article XIX, Section 4 of the Bylaws of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution."

The letter does not mention the transgender membership fight at all, one way or the other.

The national society filled in some of the blank when asked. In a statement to Fox News Digital, NSDAR said the board acted "after finding that chapter officers had used the chapter's name, leadership positions, communications, and governance processes to further the goals of a separate advocacy organization." DAR confirmed the chapter was disbanded and denied that its members' views on membership eligibility were the reason.

The statement, as reported, did not name the outside group. Other outlets have identified it as Daughters Advocating for Restoration, a group formed by dissenting members, but that identification has not been confirmed by DAR itself and should be treated as unverified.

The Fight That Got Here

The dispute began in September 2024, when the Martha Laird Chapter, with the backing of 11 other chapters, submitted a proposed bylaw amendment defining membership eligibility by biological sex. The DAR, founded in 1890, had allowed women with legally amended birth certificates to join provided they met the organization's genealogical requirements.

Chapter allies say the National Board of Management rejected the amendment in February 2025 — an account that comes from an open letter by chapter recording secretary Laura McDonald and has not been independently confirmed. A Washington Times item dated June 27, 2026, reported that the broader membership, meeting in assembly, defeated a proposal to block transgender members; that report was located only through search indexes and could not be verified directly for this story.

The argument also moved outside the organization. The Daily Wire reported that more than 150 members signed a letter to President Trump, an account that likewise remains unverified. On Capitol Hill, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, now running for governor, introduced legislation to restrict DAR membership to biological women, and Rep. Ben Cline has pursued legislation touching the organization's federal charter. Bill numbers and cosponsor lists could not be independently verified, and neither lawmaker's office has commented on the disbanding.

Two Stories About the Same Vote

Both accounts of the vote fit the facts on the record, which is why neither side is backing down. Membership organizations commonly have rules against officers using the group's name and governance machinery to run a separate advocacy operation, and DAR says that is what happened here. Critics answer that the enforcement came only after the chapter lost internal votes and took its case to Congress and the White House, and that a letter which declines to describe the offense leaves the question open.

Sonja Shaw, a conservative candidate for California superintendent of public instruction, offered the dissenters' framing to Fox News Digital: "The women of the Martha Laird Chapter in Texas stood their ground."

Chapter officers have not publicly responded, and no comment from the DAR president general has been reported.

What comes next is procedural and then possibly legal. Disbanded chapter members must be reassigned or moved to at-large status — one aggregator has reported a Nov. 9 deadline, though that date is single-sourced and unconfirmed. Watch for whether the chapter appeals or goes to court, whether any of the 11 endorsing chapters face similar action, and whether the Cline and Blackburn measures get a hearing now that the dispute has cost a chapter its charter.