Employers and housing groups could not discriminate against transgendered people, under a plan that won final passage today in the House of Delegates.

After a floor debate that veered into what some delegates said was offensive territory, the anti-discrimination measure passed by a vote of 86 to 52, a preliminary tally showed. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Home owners who rent rooms or apartments in their residence are exempted from the bill. Religious groups also are exempted.

Some Republicans who opposed the bill argued that education and child-related groups should have been excluded, too. Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke, an Anne Arundel County Republican, said some parents may not want to explain to their children why a female teacher, for example, decided to dress as a man.