The Kentucky State Senate voted 22 to 16 on Tuesday to approve a bill that would protect people who refuse services in the name of religion in certain situations, and could partially override local laws designed to protect LGBT people from discrimination.

However, lawmakers were unclear what the bill's ultimate impacts would be. The senate also adopted an amendment that states the bill would not apply to those providing “standard goods or services” in the ordinary course of business or at a place of public accommodation, resort, or amusement.



The bill advances next to the state house.



Republican Senator Albert Robinson said the bill aims to protect individuals who want to refuse services to same-sex couples — such as wedding cakes. “This protects people in business who don’t want to go beyond their conscience,” he said on the senate floor.

Robinson sponsored the bill, he told fellow lawmakers, because "the homosexual community makes it an issue.”

Senate Bill180 is one of dozens bills filed in legislatures around the country to protect people of faith — a Republican backlash to the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.



Democrats opposed the measure, including Sen. Reginald Thomas, who argued it would allow discrimination against LGBT people and possibly Jews. “I hope this senate would not pass a bill that promotes hatred and bigotry."