Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., has introduced the "Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act," a bill intended to amend the organization's congressional charter to restrict membership to biological women. The move follows a recent vote by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) that rejected a proposal to exclude transgender members.
Cline stated that the legislation seeks to uphold the organization's original mission and celebrate women who represent the nation's heritage. "Rather than honoring and preserving a lineage-based organization for women, it has embraced radical gender ideology at the expense of the women it was created to serve," Cline said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. The bill, he added, would require the DAR to return to serving "the true daughters of the American Revolution."
The proposed legislation defines "female" as an individual 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."
The DAR, founded in 1890, is an organization for women who are direct descendants of patriots in the American Revolutionary War. Last year, the organization voted 1,481 to 984 against a measure that would have restricted membership to those "born female." The DAR's headquarters are located in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
Mollie Hemingway has explained the DAR's history and its recent decision regarding transgender membership. The organization's congressional charter was established to honor the lineage of women who contributed to the nation's founding.
Cline's bill has garnered support from groups including Concerned Women for America, American Principles Project, Independent Women Forum, and the Heritage Foundation. Fox News Digital reported that the DAR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.