Wyoming Senate votes down bill banning LGBT discrimination

The Wyoming Senate has voted down a bill that would have banned discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Senate’s Committee of the Whole voted 17-13 against the bill, indefinitely postponing it. The bill would have allowed exceptions for religious organizations.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, says the bill is needed. He says workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people happens in Wyoming.

Other senators argued that they didn’t want to see additional classes of people added to the state’s anti-discrimination law.

A similar bill in 2015 overwhelmingly passed the Senate, but failed in the House of Representatives.