WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) voted Monday to advance a bill to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, supporting the measure after intense backroom talks that spilled into open view.
Toomey, one of seven Republicans to back the bill, waited and negotiated as the bill stood at 59 votes - on the brink of clearing a key procedural hurdle. He voted in favor of it immediately after it received the 60th vote it needed.
He then cast the 61st vote vote in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), helping advance one of gay rights groups' top priorities, 61-30.
But Toomey said he hopes to amend the bill, and it's not clear whether he will support final Senate passage later this week. He plans to offer a change that would give more leeway to religious groups.
"I have long believed that more legal protections are appropriate to prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation," Toomey said in a statement after the vote. "So I believe [the bill] contains very important provisions. However, I also believe it should be improved, especially as it pertains to religious organizations. We must strive to reach the appropriate balance between protecting workers and protecting religious freedom."
He declined an interview request, and his statement did not specify what his amendment would say.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), one of the bill's sponsors, said Democratic leaders were working with Toomey to give him an opportunity to offer his plan. But Merkley declined to say whether he would support the amendment.
Merkley was more supportive of a proposed amendment from Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) and Rob Portman (R., Ohio), who also engaged in long talks before casting the crucial 59th and 60th votes. They will also seek protections for religious organizations.
Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Cory Booker and Bob Menendez of New Jersey voted in favor of the culturally charged measure - which supporters have tried to pass since the mid-1990s. President Obama strongly supports it.
"This vote was about fundamental fairness," Casey said in a release.
Menendez called it "another step toward a more tolerant society."
Among Republicans, though, the bill was more divisive. The public has grown increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage and other rights for gays and lesbians, but many conservatives remain opposed.
The divide is on clear display within Pennsylvania. The Republican-controlled legislature has stifled proposed discrimination bans similar to ENDA - while Toomey's hometown congressman, Lehigh Valley Republican Charlie Dent, has sponsored the anti-discrimination bill in the House.
For Toomey, a fiscal conservative representing an increasingly moderate state, the vote was his second recent step toward the middle on the kind of cultural issues he generally avoids. This spring, he cosponsored a bipartisan bill to expand background checks on gun buyers.
In the days leading up to Monday's vote, he was the subject of a pressure campaign by liberal and gay rights organizations.
With 59 votes cast in favor of the measure, the wrangling continued just off the Senate floor, in the Republican cloakroom. Merkley and Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) spoke to Toomey and Portman as the bill stood one vote short of advancing.
Soon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) joined the fray, which grew so large that the crowd spilled from the side room onto the Senate floor, providing a rare public glimpse of the backroom haggling.
Finally, Portman and Toomey walked out to cast "yes" votes. Portman, who has an openly gay son, went first, casting the decisive vote.
"Sen. Toomey stood on the right side of history," said a release from Equality PA executive director Ted Martin.
Conservatives, though, worried that the measure could trample religious freedom and unnecessarily interfere with private businesses. None of its opponents, however, publicly spoke before the vote.
The bill faces dim prospects in the Republican-controlled House, where Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) "believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs," according to a spokesman.
Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and national origin, but doesn't stop an employer from firing or refusing to hire a worker for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. The bill would bar employers with 15 or more workers from using a person's sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for employment decisions.
@JonathanTamari