What does " those barring discrimination" mean?
Exhilarated by the Supreme Court’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, gay rights leaders have turned their sights to what they see as the next big battle: obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in employment, housing, commerce and other arenas, just like those barring discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin.

What does " those barring discrimination" mean?

Is barring stopping or preventing? what does those refer to in this context?

Question

What does " those barring discrimination" mean?
Exhilarated by the Supreme Court’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, gay rights leaders have turned their sights to what they see as the next big battle: obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in employment, housing, commerce and other arenas, just like those barring discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin.

What does " those barring discrimination" mean?

Is barring stopping or preventing?  what does those refer to in this context?

Answer

Barring more nearly means "preventing" here, and "those" refers to the set of laws already in place.

What this means is that there are already laws that say you can't discriminate based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

Here, the activists are interested making additional laws to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, similar to the laws that already deal with race, religion, sex, or national origin.