COLUMBUS, Ohio—After Jimmie Beall was fired from a teaching job she loved because she was a lesbian, she made a promise to her students that she’d fight to prevent the same thing from happening to others.

Last week Beall helped Ohio state lawmakers unveil a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in jobs, credit and housing. Backers say the political climate is prime to make Ohio the 22nd state to pass such a law.

Beall said she had just received a stellar review and great new work assignment days before her firing from the London City Schools in western Ohio. Then the principal discovered she was gay.

“Being fired left me stunned, absolutely devastated,” she said. “I don’t know how to express how it feels when you know that you have children and no income and no insurance now because of who you are.”

Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, said March 11 that he would sign the bill if it made it to his desk.

Lynne Bowman, executive director of the gay rights group Equality Ohio, said 21 other states, 433 of the Fortune 500 companies, 11 of the state’s 13 four-year universities, and 16 Ohio cities and villages already have such protections in place.