The last time we looked at this promise from Barack Obama, it was the end of 2011, and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, or ENDA, seemed to be nowhere near passage. We rated it Promise Broken.

Things have changed since then, though.

For one thing, it's a new session of Congress, and Senators who support a federal law to protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination brought the measure back up.

On Nov. 4, 2013, 61 senators voted in favor of beginning debate on the legislation, which would prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of an individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Seven Republicans joined with 52 Democrats and two independents to move the bill forward. The measure is now able to proceed to a vote on final passage.

While some states and localities have laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, there is no current federal law that would apply to all.

To be clear, there's still a ways to go before Obama could claim full credit for this promise. Senators say they expect attempts to amend the bill to address concerns of religious employers, and that could become a contentious issue. Also, the bill would face an uphill battle in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Republican leadership controls whether the bill would get a vote or not.

Still, the Senate vote is an important step toward enactment, and Obama strongly supported the measure. On the day of the vote, the White House released the following statement:

"This bipartisan legislation is necessary to ensure that strong federal protections exist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers no matter where they live. Workers should not fear being fired from their jobs, harassed at their workplaces, or otherwise denied the chance to earn a living for themselves and their families, simply because of sexual orientation or gender identity. This legislation would, for the first time in this Nation's history, make explicit in federal law such guarantees, which are consistent with America's core values of fairness and equality.  Passage of this bill is long overdue."

Obama's promise is back in play. We move the meter to In the Works.