OLYMPIA — A gay-civil-rights bill is one or two votes shy of a majority in the Senate, Sen. Darlene Fairley said yesterday after a hearing on the measure.

"I am very optimistic," said Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park. "It's the right thing to do."

The state House already has approved the bill, and Gov. Christine Gregoire has said she will sign it into law if the Legislature passes it.

Public opinion at Fairley's committee hearing ran 6-to-1 in favor of the bill, though some opponents warned of deep-seated opposition across the state.

The bill, which would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in jobs, housing and insurance, has been introduced — and rejected — annually for nearly 30 years in the Legislature.

Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, the bill's sponsor, said he thinks this is the year it will pass.

"Some have asked, is this a necessity? Let me assure you, from the school yard to the boardrooms, discrimination is real for gays and lesbians in Washington state," Murray told the Senate panel. "I appeal to you as a gay man, as a native son of this state, as your colleague, to pass this bill."

Opponents included the Christian Coalition, Washington Evangelicals for Responsible Government and private citizens.

"Tens of thousands if not millions of Christians hold that homosexuality is a reprehensible lifestyle," said Randy Leskovar, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in West Seattle. "So when we're saying it is a lifestyle that must be accepted ... you're going to have to allow something you think is reprehensible to be looked on as being OK."

Several opponents said they believe homosexuality is a choice, subject to change, and thus should not get the same protections as race and ethnicity.

And some legislators flatly rejected the idea that sexual orientation is a matter of choice.

Fifteen states have anti-discrimination laws that protect gays and lesbians.

Fairley said she plans to pass the bill out of the Financial Institutions, Housing and Consumer Protection Committee tomorrow. There was no word on when it might come to the Senate floor.