AUSTIN — Less than a week after the first-ever Texas LGBTQ House Caucus celebrated its defeat of what’s come to be known as the “Save Chick-fil-A” bill, a new version of the legislation passed in the Senate on Wednesday.

The bill got its nickname after the San Antonio City Council in March voted to bar Chick-fil-A from opening airport concessions due to the fast-food chain owners' record on LGBT issues.

Senate Bill 1978, sponsored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, would bar governments from punishing people and companies for affiliating or donating to a religious organization. It passed on a 19-12 vote Thursday and is now headed to the House.

This time, the LGBTQ Caucus will likely find it more difficult to derail. House Speaker Dennis Bonnen told Spectrum News on Wednesday that he supports the bill and believes it would pass in the House.

Hughes offered an amended version of the bill Wednesday that changed the description of the type of person protected by the bill to those with “membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation or other support provided to a religious organization.”

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Previously, it applied to those with “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction, including beliefs or convictions regarding marriage.”

Democrats in the Republican-led Senate tried to defeat the bill through prolonged questioning, amendments and other procedural actions but did not find success like their fellow party members in the House.

State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, tried to raise a point of order Wednesday evening, the same type of procedural move that had killed the bill in the House, but it was overruled.

“I’m concerned because there are many people who do cloak themselves in religious organization and yet run nefarious and discriminatory activities,” Menéndez said during discussion on the floor.

He added: “It seems like session after session, we end up entertaining legislation that sends a message to my LGBT staff members and other LGBT staff members around the building that they feel they’re coming under attack.”

Throughout debate on the floor Wednesday, Hughes repeatedly defended the bill by saying that it would not “cloak anyone’s illegal activity.”

“This bill is only about action the government takes against us,” Hughes said. “The intent is not — it’s the furthest thing from discrimination. This protects everyone’s religious freedom and free speech.”

Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values Action, cheered the preliminary passage of the bill Wednesday as “essential for religious freedom and government accountability.”

“It’s late, but there is still enough time for this must-pass bill to get approval in the House and go to Gov. Abbott for his signature,” Saenz said.

Meanwhile, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates and other civil rights groups denounced the vote, saying the state and federal law already protect religious freedom.

“We have seen supporters of the bill use ‘Chick-fil-A’ as a dog whistle and this measure as a tool for suggesting that treating LGBT Texans with the same respect and dignity we all deserve is somehow a threat to religious freedom,” said Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller. “Now we’re all being asked to trust that this bill, if passed, won’t be used to justify discrimination. The bill’s supporters simply have not earned that trust.”

State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, read the First Amendment aloud and questioned Hughes over why the bill was necessary given that the Constitution guarantees the right to religious freedom.

“So many of us are scratching our heads and wondering, ‘We already have that protection within the Constitution,’” Alvarado said. “I wonder what the authors of the Constitution and Bill of Rights would be saying today.”

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