Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney tweeted: "Equality wins!" | AP Ban on LGBT discrimination finally clears House

The House late Wednesday night passed a spending bill amendment that would ban federal contractors who discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people, putting into law a 2014 executive order.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) had attempted to attach a similar amendment to a Veterans Affairs appropriations bill last week, but House Republican leaders held the vote open and persuaded enough members to change their votes to defeat the measure. But on Wednesday, Maloney's measure passed in a 223-195 vote as an amendment to an energy and water spending bill.


"Equality wins! We have a long way to go, but achieved big victory. Will keep fighting until every #LGBT American is safe, can pursue dreams," Maloney tweeted after the amendment passed.

The amendment earned Republican support when Maloney allowed Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) to add a line to the end saying, "except as required by the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution."

The addition would appear to be a way to create an exemption for people citing religious objections to the provisions. Maloney retorted that the House uses "the whole Constitution."

Republicans also promptly attached two amendments of their own offering support for a North Carolina law that requires people to use bathrooms according to their gender at birth. The amendment from Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) would prevent the federal government from withholding funding as a way to punish North Carolina for the law, and another from Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) supports religious exemptions.

The moves infuriated House Democrats. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement: "After Republicans worked so hard to defeat Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney’s anti-discrimination amendment last week, we are happy to see his amendment succeed in the Energy & Water bill. However, the success of the Maloney Amendment does not hide the reality that House Republicans have chosen to make enabling discrimination against LGBT Americans a top legislative priority."

The bill comes before the House on Thursday and must still be conferenced with the Senate measure.

Darius Dixon contributed to this article.

