SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A broad-based measure to outlaw discrimination based on sexual-orientation in jobs, housing and other areas drew lopsided testimony in favor of it June 19 before the Oregon Senate Rules Committee.

But Sen. Kate Brown, co-chair of the panel, said the bill might not advance because of a likely roadblock in the Republican-run House.

Brown, a Portland Democrat who’s bisexual, said the measure has a good chance of passing in the Senate.

The Senate has a 15-15 partisan tie; the GOP controls the House with a 35-25 advantage. Such measures have caused partisan divisions in past sessions, generally with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.

“It likely would face very stiff opposition in the House,” Brown said.

The measure would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in education, employment, housing, public accommodations and public assistance.

Senate Bill 786 also forbids discrimination based on gender identity — covering transgender citizens.

“I’m not asking for special rights. I’m asking for equal rights,” former Josephine County sheriff’s deputy Logan Calvo told the committee.

Calvo said he was forced to resign in 1996 when his agency discovered that he considered himself female and wore women’s clothes in private.

Calvo, who had been a deputy for 16 years, said women’s clothes and some other items were stolen from a rental storage locker he kept in Medford. The garments were later discovered and given to his superiors when he was identified from pictures among the items.

He said the lack of an anti-discrimination law meant he had no legal recourse to challenge his superiors.

Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, the state’s main gay-rights group, said Oregon should join the 14 other states that have adopted civil rights laws based on sexual orientation.

Civil rights for gay people in Oregon “depend on your ZIP code,” she said. Portland, Salem, Eugene and Ashland and Multnomah County have adopted nondiscrimination ordinances to protect gays and lesbians.

The only opposition to the bill came from Nick Graham of the Oregon Family Council, a conservative Christian political organization.

“Our goal is not to condemn the lifestyle but only to persuade government to not take an active role in condoning it,” Graham said.

David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said the bill “doesn’t provide any special protection for any class but protects all Oregonians.”

Other advocates of the bill said people should be judged on their performance, not on sexual orientation.