Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., center, speaks at a news conference as the Senate made a vote on legislation outlawing workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans on Thursday. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The Senate approved legislation Thursday that outlaws workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, demonstrating the nation's quickly evolving attitude toward gay rights nearly two decades after Congress rejected same-sex marriage. The bill’s fate is now in the hands of the Republican-led House of Representatives. Fifty-four members of the Democratic majority and 10 Republicans voted for the first major gay rights bill since Congress repealed the ban on gays in the military three years ago. The vote in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act was 64-32. Two opponents of a similar measure 17 years ago, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, backed the measure this time. "We are about to make history in this chamber," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a chief sponsor of the bill, said shortly before the vote. The enthusiasm of the bill's supporters was tempered by the reality that the Republican-led House, where conservatives have a firm grip on the agenda, is unlikely to even vote on the legislation. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, maintains his long-standing opposition to the measure, arguing that it is unnecessary and certain to create costly, frivolous lawsuits for businesses.

Outside conservative groups have cast the bill as antifamily. A number of Republican strategists, however, are convinced that their party must embrace gay rights for its own political good. "It's largely a generational thing," said one party strategist. "Younger Republicans see no reason to discriminate against gays. They have friends who are gay." President Barack Obama welcomed the vote and urged the House to act. "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," Obama said in a statement. "Now is the time to end this kind of discrimination in the workplace, not enable it." Gay rights advocates hailed the Senate passage as a major victory in a momentous year. The Supreme Court in June granted federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples, though it avoided a sweeping ruling that would have paved the way for same-sex unions nationwide. Illinois is on the verge of becoming the 15th state to legalize gay marriage. Supporters called the bill the final step in a long congressional tradition of trying to stop discrimination. It comes nearly 50 years after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act and 23 years after the Americans With Disabilities Act. "Now we've finished the trilogy," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a chief sponsor of the disabilities law, said at a Capitol Hill news conference.