A House bill directed at same-sex couples in Kansas who are denied services tied to weddings and civil unions passed Wednesday with Republicans arguing the measure reinforced religious freedom and Democrats labeling it a discriminatory assault on lesbians and gays.

The GOP-led House voted 72-49 to approve House Bill 2453 with little commentary following lengthy debate Tuesday. The bill sent to the Senate was designed to shield people, groups and businesses that cite religious reasons for refusing to serve homosexuals engaging in activities viewed as religiously offensive.

The bill allows government employees of the state, courts, schools and law enforcement agencies to treat as invalid the civil unions or marriages of two men or two women.

Legislators supportive of the legislation were motivated by an assumption the federal courts eventually would declare unconstitutional a 2005 amendment to the Kansas Constitution banning gay marriage.

Gov. Sam Brownback said when asked about the bill that he had dedicated himself to fighting for basic human rights, including religious liberty, in many countries and for many different faiths.

"Americans have constitutional rights, among them the right to exercise their religious beliefs and the right for every human life to be treated with respect and dignity," the Republican governor said.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said each moment devoted to denouncing gay marriage was time drawn from more important work on promoting job growth, reversing cuts in public education and helping trim property taxes.

"Kansans sent us to Topeka to solve these problems, but this bill goes out of its way to ignore the critical challenges families are facing right now," Davis said.

Brownback, a Topeka Republican, is running for re-election. Davis is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor.

House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, voted for the bill and declined to comment. The bill appealed primarily to Republicans, but several Democrats cast votes with the majority. Opposition was bipartisan, with about 20 GOP members joining Democrats voting no.

Sandra Meade, state chairwoman of the Equality Kansas organization opposed to the bill, said Kansans were appalled legislators passed "yet another piece of legislation that seeks to enshrine discrimination against gay and lesbian people" and maintain their "second-class citizen status."

She said she understood the desire of conservatives to "appease their extremist base," but was disappointed House Democratic leaders, especially Davis, didn't do more to oppose or amend the bill.

Robert Noland, executive director of the Kansas Family Policy Council, lauded passage of the bill as an important step to protect individuals, churches and businesses opposed to homosexual marriage. He said the bill was a "proactive step in today's culture where activist court rulings around the nation seem to call into question rights of conscience and religious liberty more and more every day."

Rep. Charles Macheers, a Shawnee Republican and chief advocate for the bill, said the legislation was necessary because of potential religious persecution of individuals opposed to same-sex marriage.

"Discrimination is horrible," Macheers said. "There have been times throughout history where people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs because they were unpopular."

Rep. Sydney Carlin, a Manhattan Democrat opposed to the bill, said the commandment to love one another was among her deeply held religious beliefs. The House bill contradicts that principle, she said.

"This bill expressly permits discrimination against my neighbor in the name of religious freedom," Carlin said.

The state's constitution and state law adequately protect Kansans exercising religious liberty, said Rep. Shanti Gandhi, R-Topeka. The House bill likely creates fertile ground for litigation, he said.

"This bill created a perception of promoting discrimination," Gandhi said. "This was quite evident to me as I listened to the discussion on the floor and as I read emails."