Judge blocks move to disband Texas DAR chapter over transgender membership row

A judge has issued a temporary restraining order stopping the national leadership of the Daughters of the American Revolution from disbanding a local Texas chapter that only allows biological women to join.

The Martha Laird chapter had fought to bar transgender women — biological men who identify as women — from joining its ranks. The national leadership of the DAR voted in early October to disband the chapter, saying it had violated the organisation's national bylaws.

The Heritage Foundation's Legal Action Center, which represented the Texas chapter in suing the national organisation, welcomed the court's decision. Lea Patterson, senior litigation counsel with the centre, said the court's order was an important victory for the Martha Laird Chapter and the women who stood up for the principle that a women's organisation should be for women.

Patterson said national DAR leadership had tried to silence these women by disbanding their 84-year-old chapter. She said the centre was grateful the court had stepped in to protect the chapter while the fight continues.

She accused DAR headquarters of trying to punish its members for speaking out, shut down legitimate debate, and strip a chapter of its assets without a fair process. She said these women had followed DAR's own procedures to advocate for change, and deserved to be heard, not punished for standing up for their convictions.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution confirmed to Fox News Digital that the organisation had voted to disband the local Texas chapter, but denied the decision was due to its views on membership. It said it was acting in compliance with its national bylaws.

In a statement, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution said the decision of its National Board of Management on October 10, 2026 was made under the authority established in the National Bylaws. According to the organisation, the decision was based on the Martha Laird Chapter's use of the DAR name and its official chapter leadership, communications and governance processes to promote the objectives of a separate advocacy organisation. It was not based on the personal views or advocacy of individual members.

The organisation added that the court's temporary restraining order does not determine the validity of the National Board's decision. NSDAR said it is complying with the order and remains confident that the National Board acted within its authority under the National Bylaws and that its decision will withstand judicial review.

Political strategist and former senior Senate advisor Mary Marslender called the judge's ruling proper. She said it should not take a court order to state the obvious: the Daughters of the American Revolution should be for women, not men. Changing a label does not change biological reality.

Marslender added that her daughters should not have to grow up in a world where their sex is treated as a choice and their spaces as negotiable. Organisations created by and for women should not be pressured to ignore basic facts, she said, praising the Texas chapter for defending common sense and the judge's decision to halt what she called a misguided effort to undermine a historic women's group.

The temporary restraining order means the chapter survives for now while the case continues. But the question of whether the National Board's decision was valid still awaits the court's final review.