SAN DIEGO — Congresswoman Sara Jacobs is introducing a bill to protect transgender individuals serving in the military.

The Ensuring Military Readiness Not Discrimination Act, also known as The Truman Amendment, would build upon former President Harry Truman’s 1948 executive order than banned segregation in the military. The bill would expand upon that order to offer protections to trans service members.

Many in the LGBTQ community say their transgender status should not bar them from serving. This bill would help make sure they would be protected.

“I felt called to service,” says transgender advocate and U.S. Army veteran Charlotte Clymer. “My family has a long history of service in the military. I went into the Army because I wanted to become part of the sacrifice of my generation.”

Clymer says her gender identity did not stop her from serving to the highest standard.

“All I would ask of anyone who says trans people can’t serve is to look at the data and to look at the sacrifice we’ve made in order to serve,” says Clymer. “Trans people have died in service to this country.”

Clymer supports Jacobs’ new bill to prevent the discrimination and ban of transgender individuals in the military. 

“It amends a bill that Harry Truman passed in 1948 that says you can not discriminate based on race when you’re doing recruitment in the military and it adds sexual orientation, gender identity, all of those things,” says Congresswoman Sara Jacobs who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

This move comes after Congressmen Marco Rubio and Jim Banks introduced a bill to regulate transgender service in the military, citing concerns over military readiness.

“Every single service in the military, every single branch has been having recruitment challenges and the last thing we should be doing for our national security is to ban people who otherwise would be perfectly fit to serve,” said Jacobs. 

Congresswoman Jacobs says she will fight to pass the bill despite a Republican majority in House of Representatives