The Maine Senate gave the governor’s gay rights bill its initial approval Monday, setting up a fight later this week on the House floor, where opponents predict a tougher road for the legislation.

The 25-10 vote came after an hour-long debate on LD 1196, which would extend the state’s anti-discrimination laws to gays and lesbians.

Supporters of the initiative, submitted earlier this month by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, called for a quick resolution to the issue, which Maine voters have considered with mixed results during the past decade.

“Discrimination and prejudice eat away at the heart of … the state,” said Sen. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro, one of six Republicans to cross party lines at the morning session in Augusta and join majority Democrats in support of the measure.

“While we pass these laws, it still takes awhile for society to come along and embrace these ideas,” continued Dow, a former seminary student, equating the gay rights debate to past efforts to provide equal rights for women and blacks.

The bill would add sexual orientation to the list of protected classes in the Maine Human Rights Act. The act prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, education, credit and public accommodations based on gender, age, religion, race, and physical and mental disability.

Among the 10 dissenters – all Republicans – was Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden, who planned to introduce an amendment today that would require voter approval of the change.

“[Voters] have made their decision on this,” Plowman said, referring to two previous ballot questions in which Mainers have rejected similar changes to the law.

The bill, as proposed by the governor and supported by the Senate on Monday, would not require voter approval.

The House is expected to consider the measure Wednesday, according to an aide to House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick.

An amendment requiring voter approval is also likely in the House, where opponents have focused their efforts in hopes of derailing the fast-tracked initiative.

Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, called the House the “only chance” of stopping the bill, particularly in light of the Senate’s strong support.

“It’s anybody’s call what’s going to happen in the House,” said Heath, contending the Senate vote reflected the “more elite side of Maine,” not the sentiments of the “average Mainer.”

The bill, considered a priority for the Baldacci administration, has cut a quick path through the Legislature, clearing its committee in just two days and landing in the Senate early Monday morning.

Although the prospect of amendments like Plowman’s loom, Baldacci spokesman Lynn Kippax said the governor is eagerly anticipating the bill’s arrival on his desk.

“The governor hopes it sails through,” Kippax said. “He believes the state has waited too long already” to support equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Mainers have been unpredictable on the gay rights issue, twice – in 1998 and 2000 – rejecting initiatives similar to the governor’s. In 1995, however, Maine voters soundly defeated an anti-gay rights initiative.

If the bill passes, Maine would join 15 states – including the rest of New England – in extending anti-discrimination laws to homosexuals. About a dozen Maine communities, including Bangor, already have similar laws on the books.