In 2022, a stranger forced his way into Mayra Diaz's Army barracks room at Fort Hood and assaulted her. She later learned he had already assaulted three other women on the same base, one of them at knifepoint, and no one had warned the barracks he was still out there. She left the Army only two years into her enlistment, no longer able to stomach putting on the uniform.

Diaz did eventually see her attacker convicted at court martial. But catching one attacker doesn't fix the deeper problem: for more than 70 years, a legal rule called the Feres doctrine has kept troops from suing the government when military leadership itself fails to protect them. Diaz has since filed a claim accusing her base's leadership of failing to keep her safe. Under Feres, though, survivors like her almost never get a real day in court, even when the case is really about the military's own negligence, not just one soldier's crime.

A new bipartisan bill in Congress could finally change that. The Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act, backed by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, would let survivors of military sexual assault and harassment take the government to civilian court, instead of relying on the military to investigate itself.

"Servicemembers give up a lot to defend this country, but they should not have to give up their right to hold the government accountable when its negligence contributes to sexual assault or harassment," according to Sen. John Kennedy.

Diaz and other survivors aren't just fighting for themselves — they're trying to make sure the next generation of service members doesn't face the same silence and cover-ups. Sign the petition to pass the Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act now, so survivors finally get a real path to justice.