By a 12-6 vote, the City Council passed a the long-debated expanded human rights ordinance to include the LGBT community.
Mayor Lenny Curry quickly announced he would let the legislation become law without his signature.
In a statement, the mayor said he still believed the legislation was unnecessary. "But this evening, a supermajority of the City Council decided otherwise," he said.
"This supermajority, representatives of the people from both parties and every corner of the city, made their will clear," Curry's statement said.
He invited council members and residents to "join me as we confront serious issues like the final steps of pension reform to bring us financial security and increase our efforts to end the violence and crime hurting innocent people in our city."
Council members voted down three amendments before taking the final vote. One would have removed "gender identity" from discrimination protection, another would have exempted private businesses from having to follow the legislation and a third would have let the issue be decided by voters via a referendum.
Those who voted in favor of expanding the HRO are: Greg Anderson, Aaron Bowman, Lori Boyer, Reggie Brown, John Crescimbeni, Garrett Dennis, Reggie Gaffney, Tommy Hazouri, Jim Love, Joyce Morgan and Scott Wilson.
Those against: Danny Becton, Doyle Carter, Al Ferraro, Bill Gulliford, Sam Newby and Matt Schellenberg.
Council member Katrina Brown was not at the meeting.