Yesterday marked the first day of Senate debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and ENDA survived its first major hurdle – a strongly bipartisan 61-30 cloture vote to end a Republican filibuster on proceeding to consideration of the bill.

Here are a few of the floor speeches given yesterday in support of ENDA.

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first openly gay US senator:

Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), one of the lead Republicans on the bill in his first floor speech since suffering a stroke in January 2012:

Senate HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), summing up this historic moment:

From letters to alerts and more, the entire PFAW family has been working on ENDA. We still need your help. Please keep calling the Senate as this week’s debate continues. There are more instructions here and here, and you can always reach both of your senators by dialing 202-224-3121. Don’t forget to sign our petition.

The time is now – say yes to common sense and no to anti-gay extremists – pass ENDA!