Democrats shouted 'Shame! Shame!' but seven Republicans have switched their votes under pressure from House leaders and defeated a measure to protect gay rights.

The final vote was 213-212 after the chaos on the House floor. That was enough to defeat an amendment by Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., aimed at upholding an executive order that bars discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) employees by federal contractors.

Maloney and other Democrats were incensed.

"They literally snatched discrimination from the jaws of equality," Maloney said.

He said he had approached Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as McCarthy worked on GOP colleagues to vote against the measure. McCarthy told Maloney to get back on his side of the aisle.

"I told him, 'What side am I supposed to stand on in support of equality?" said Maloney, New York's first openly gay congressman. "It was disgraceful." McCarthy rejected the assertion that Republicans unfairly held the vote open to prevail.

"Was that a long time? So the answer is no," he said. Maloney's amendment would have prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to violate President Barack Obama's executive order barring discrimination.