The Senate last week took a major step in advancing equal rights when it passed the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In Maine, people likely forget that that is a protection residents already enjoy here, thanks to the Maine Human Rights Act. The act was passed by the Legislature in 2005, and then upheld by voters in November of that year when they rejected an effort to repeal the law. Maine was the last New England state to do so.

The act gives Mainers the right to freedom from discrimination in employment and housing, which means an employer cannot fire or refuse to hire a person based on their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry or national origin; and a landlord cannot refuse to rent to a person or evict them based on those attributes.

The law the Senate approved deals only with employment, barring employers with 15 or more workers from using a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for making employment decisions, including hiring, firing, compensation or promotion. Religious institutions and the military are exempted, according to the Associated Press.

However, the military policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was already repealed, making serving in the armed forces as an openly gay man or woman OK ”“ showing even more the trend toward equality in this country.

In both cases, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been a vocal supporter of ending discrimination, saying last week, prior to the Senate’s vote, “I hope that we are on the verge of making history tomorrow by passing this bill with a strong vote. I then hope that our colleagues on the House side will follow suit, and that we can see this bill signed into law.”

That is unlikely, however.

Thanks to House Speaker John Boehner’s opposition to the bill, the proposal may not even go to a vote in the Republican-controlled Congress. That is why the Human Rights Campaign is urging President Barack Obama to sign an executive order that would have the same effect.

White House officials have said, however, they see this as an opportunity to put Republicans under the microscope, according to the AP report.

“We will use this as an opportunity to ramp up pressure on Republicans to act on the bipartisan legislation that was passed in the Senate,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We welcome the opportunity to have a public debate with Republicans on this issue.”

And while it may be a situation ripe for political posturing, we hope the administration and the president don’t lose sight of the fact that this issue is deeply important and can have devastating impacts on people’s lives each and every day discrimination is legal.

In New England, it’s hard to imagine being denied a job based on your sexual orientation, but elsewhere in this country, that is a cold, hard fact of life ”“ and one that needs to change.

We urge members of Congress to put this issue to a vote and end discrimination in the workplace once and for all. While we would like to see the House pass this measure, if that does not happen, Obama should sign an executive order to ensure this basic right for all Americans.

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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham Rousseau on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.