Senate Moves to Final Vote on Workplace Gay-Bias Ban WASHINGTON - The Senate edged closer on Thursday to approving a ban on discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, voting to cut off debate on the measure by 64 to 34. It would be the first time in the institution's history that it has voted to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the country's nondiscrimination law. Despite initial wariness among many Republicans about the bill, 10 of them voted with 54 members of the Democratic majority to move forward. A final vote was scheduled for later in the day, and the measure was expected to easily pass. But nothing is guaranteed in the House, where Speaker John A. Boehner has repeatedly said he opposes the bill. "The time has come for Congress to pass a federal law that ensures all citizens, regardless of where they live, can go to work not afraid of who they are," Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said on Thursday, noting that a vast majority of Americans already think such a law is in place. "Well, it isn't already the law," he added. Let's do what the American people think already exists. Republicans who voted against the bill, known as the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, were muted in their opposition. The first senator to rise and speak against the bill on the floor all week was Dan Coats of Indiana, who said Thursday morning that religious freedoms were at risk, despite the bill's broad exemption for religious institutions. Those exemptions, he said, did not go far enough. "We can't pick and choose when to adhere to the Constitution, and when to cast it aside," Mr. Coats said. The so-called protections from religious liberty in this bill are vaguely defined and do not extend to all organizations that wish to adhere to their moral or religious beliefs in their hiring practices.