To the editor:
On September 21, 1996, President Bill Clinton, an opponent of same-sex marriage, signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had passed in the Senate 85 to 14 and in the House of Representatives 342 to 67.
DOMA had two major effects, “No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state, and, secondly, the federal government may not treat same sex relationships as marriages for any purposes, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.”