The Senate passed a bill Thursday to ban workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, marking a historic victory for the gay-rights movement even as it seems unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled House.
Passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on Thursday afternoon came 20 years after it was first went to the floor for a vote. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in passing the bill in the upper chamber, for a final vote of 64-32.
House Speaker John Boehner reiterated his opposition to the measure earlier this week, making it unlikely the bill will see a floor vote, let alone pass, in the lower chamber.
President Barack Obama pressed the House to take up the legislation.
“One party in one house of Congress should not stand in the way of millions of Americans who want to go to work each day and simply be judged by the job they do. Now is the time to end this kind of discrimination in the workplace, not enable it,” he said in a statement. “I urge the House Republican leadership to bring this bill to the floor for a vote and send it to my desk so I can sign it into law.”