Topeka ? Nearly eight in 10 Kansans oppose firing someone for being gay or lesbian, according to a poll commissioned by a gay rights organization.

“This survey confirms what we’ve known for quite some time: Fairness is a Kansas value,” Thomas Witt, state chairman of the Kansas Equality Coalition, said Wednesday.

The coalition said poll results show that the Legislature should approve a bill now being considered by lawmakers that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Current state law prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, religion, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry.

“It’s clear that the time has come to extend the same protections from discrimination to gays and lesbians that so many other Kansans already enjoy,” said Diane Silver, state communications chairwoman for the Equality Coalition.

In the poll, 79 percent said it would be poor employment practice to fire someone for being gay or lesbian. Of those, 68 percent said that gays and lesbians deserve the same protections as other Kansans and that they would support a law to provide those protections.

The poll of 500 registered voters was conducted last month by Jayhawk Consulting Services. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

In August, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius issued an executive order adding protections for gays and lesbians working at state executive agencies. And she endorsed the bill pending before the Legislature.