The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday approved a bill that would expand federal workplace discrimination laws to include gay, lesbian and transgender workers.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act — now on its 10th trip through Congress after it was first proposed in 1994 — would prohibit employers with more than 15 full-time workers from discriminating against its workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, classes which are not protected under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Religious organizations and nonprofit members-only organizations, excluding labor unions, would be exempt from the law's provisions.

Fifteen senators, including three Republicans, voted in favor of the bill's approval for consideration before the full Senate later this year. The three Republicans voting in favor of the bill were Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ark., Orin Hatch, R-Utah, and Mark Kirk, R-Ill.

In his remarks prior to the roll-call vote, committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Wednesday's vote marked the first time since 2002 that a version of the bill passed through the committee.

“We still have a long way to go, but our country is a far better place because of laws barring discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, religion, age and disability, among others. It is time, at long last, also to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Sen. Harkin said. “This bill is not complex. It makes clear that private businesses, public employers and labor unions cannot make employment decisions — hiring, firing, promotion or compensation — based on a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”

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The bill now will be returned to the Senate floor for a possible vote, though Sen. Harkin said that is unlikely to happen before Congress calls its customary August recess. The bill currently has 53 co-sponsors, including Sens. Kirk and Susan Collins, R-Maine, as well as Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and is favored to pass should it reach a Senate vote.

An identical bill also has been introduced in the House of Representatives but has not yet received a vote up or down from any of the four committees to which it was referred. That bill currently has 177 co-sponsors, six more than it had in 2011 but six fewer than in 2009. No version of the bill has come before the full House for a vote since 2007.