COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- South Carolina state senators on Wednesday approved a bill to remove the Confederate flag from atop the Statehouse dome, a banner opponents say is racist but supporters insist is a symbol of Southern heritage.

"I think it's a great day because a lot of people are sacrificing their special interests in favor of what is best for the people of South Carolina. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been fighting this battle a long time," Democratic Sen. McKinley Washington said of the 36-7 vote.

Gov. Jim Hodges has said the flag should be removed.

The Confederate battle flag flies below the South Carolina flag atop the Statehouse in Columbia

This is the first flag bill this session to reach the floor in either chamber. Key senators had hammered out an agreement they thought would satisfy flag supporters and opponents.

The bill would remove the banner from the dome and place a similar battle flag behind an existing monument honoring Confederate soldiers on Statehouse grounds. The flag would fly on the north side of the Statehouse from a pole no taller than 20 feet. That element was added to satisfy black lawmakers and other flag opponents who did not want the flag in a prominent position to passers-by.

The bill also would remove the Confederate flags hanging in the House and Senate chambers, and would protect all monuments, memorials and buildings erected or named in honor of the Confederacy or civil rights movement.

In 1994, the House adjourned without considering a Senate-approved plan to remove the flag.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers began debating a compromise plan as hundreds of flag supporters lined up to watch.

Opponents of the flag say it is a racist symbol, while supporters say it represents Southern heritage and honors Confederate war dead.

Only the Legislature can take down the flag. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has urged tourists to boycott South Carolina until the flag is removed.

The NAACP urged a boycott of tourism in the state and held protests demanding the flag be taken down

As the Legislature debated the flag, tennis player Serena Williams, who is black, withdrew from the Family Circle Cup, the biggest sports name to back the NAACP boycott.

Not all senators were on board.

"Race relations will not be the same in this state in my lifetime if you take that flag down," said Republican Sen. Harvey Peeler. He said "the rebels would yell" if the flag was removed because they do not want to be told what to do.

Hundreds of supporters with Confederate flags decorating hats, shirts, belts and jewelry lined up to get inside the Senate gallery to watch the debate.

"We need a nonpartisan, binding referendum," Steven Roark said. "The people who lost their lives for that flag didn't know anything about politics. They just knew they had to pick up the squirrel gun and fight for the farm."

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