--- title: Congress Explodes in Chaos After Failed LGBT Vote description: The House floor exploded in chaos after an anti-LGBT discrimination bill failed by one vote. canonical: https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-20T13:43:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:42:45.198Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congress Explodes in Chaos After Failed LGBT Vote og:description: The House floor exploded in chaos after an anti-LGBT discrimination bill failed by one vote. og:url: https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03c37449c47418fd/69888a6d2dce0167509e821f/human-rights-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: A demonstrator waves a rainbow flag in front of the US Capitol in Washington on October 11, 2009 as tens of thousands of gay activists marched to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congress Explodes in Chaos After Failed LGBT Vote twitter:description: The House floor exploded in chaos after an anti-LGBT discrimination bill failed by one vote. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03c37449c47418fd/69888a6d2dce0167509e821f/human-rights-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An LGBT Vote Failed in the House and Chaos Ensued > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 20, 2016 1:43 PM UTC  A demonstrator waves a rainbow flag in front of the US Capitol in Washington on October 11, 2009 as tens of thousands of gay activists marched to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the US military. A demonstrator waves a rainbow flag in front of the US Capitol in Washington on October 11, 2009 as tens of thousands of gay activists marched to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the US military. AFP—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 20, 2016 1:43 PM UTC The House floor exploded in chaos Tuesday after a bill that would have barred federal contractors from government work if they discriminate against the [LGBT community](http://time.com/lgbt-stats/?iid=sr-link1) failed by one vote. Inadvertently channeling [a scene](http://time.com/3920932/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-cersei-walk-of-shame/?iid=sr-link2) from HBO’s _Game of Thrones,_ Democratic advocates of the bill started chanting “shame” after Republicans whipped some last-minute vote switches to block the bill 213-212. “The members who switched are going to hold a very special place in American history as the people who didn’t have the guts to stand up and support the will of the House,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who put in the anti-LGBT discrimination amendment, [Politico reports](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/house-lgbt-amendment-discrimination-fight-223366). “They literally snatched discrimination out of the jaws of equality.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/"},"headline":"An LGBT Vote Failed in the House and Chaos Ensued","datePublished":"2016-05-20T13:43:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:42:45.198Z","description":"\"Shame!\"","url":"https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/","keywords":["Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03c37449c47418fd/69888a6d2dce0167509e821f/human-rights-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03c37449c47418fd/69888a6d2dce0167509e821f/human-rights-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A demonstrator waves a rainbow flag in front of the US Capitol in Washington on October 11, 2009 as tens of thousands of gay activists marched to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the","caption":"A demonstrator waves a rainbow flag in front of the US Capitol in Washington on October 11, 2009 as tens of thousands of gay activists marched to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the","creditText":"AFP—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4342890/congress-house-lgbt-vote-fail-republicans/","name":"An LGBT Vote Failed in the House and Chaos Ensued"}}]}] ```