The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved the Equality Act.

The legislation seeks to add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights law.

According to various outlets, the bill passed with a 224-203 vote. Three Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with united Democrats.

The lead sponsors of the legislation, Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline, who is openly gay, and Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, spoke at a press conference with other Democrats before the floor vote.

Cicilline said that he hopes the bill will become law in honor of the late Representative John Lewis, who strongly favored passage.

Merkley said that LGBT Americans are “not free” because “they do not share fully and equally in our national life, they are not treated as individuals equal in dignity and promise to all others.”

“It is way past time we change that,” Merkley said. “Way past time we pass a national Equality Act.”

Cicilline also spoke on the House floor, where he called for passage of the bill.

“The LGBTQ community has waited long enough,” he said. “The time has come to extend the blessings of liberty and equality to all Americans, regardless of who they are or who they love.”

Cicilline and Merkley first introduced the legislation in 2015.

The Biden administration has called the Equality Act a priority. But passage in the Senate, where Democrats must remain united and round up 10 GOP votes to reach the finish line, remains unclear.