Legislation to ban workplace discrimination against gays was advanced Monday by the Senate. Sen. Bernie Sanders was in the 61 to 30 majority voting to take up a nationwide ban on workplace discrimination.

“I am very pleased that the Senate took a step closer to protecting gays from workplace discrimination. Vermont has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation since 1992. It’s been illegal to discriminate against transgender Vermonters since 2007. In the U.S. Senate, it has been almost two decades since legislation was first introduced to enact strong and clear federal protections against workplace discrimination against gays throughout our country. Tonight’s vote is an important and long-overdue step in the right direction to make America the democratic and inclusive society it should be.”

The Senate vote pushed the legislation over a major procedural hurdle and was a sign that the decades-old proposal finally will pass the Senate. The bill’s prospects in the House, however, are not good. Speaker John Boehner announced on Monday that he remains opposed to the bill.