<P> Though his official political position was against same - sex marriage, Clinton criticized DOMA as "unnecessary and divisive", while his press - secretary called it "gay baiting, plain and simple". However, after Congress had passed the bill with enough votes to override a presidential veto, Clinton signed DOMA . Many years later, he claimed that he did so reluctantly in view of the veto - proof majority, both to avoid associating himself politically with the then - unpopular cause of same - sex marriage, and to defuse momentum for a proposed Federal Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same - sex marriage . Clinton, who was traveling when Congress acted, signed it into law promptly upon returning to Washington, D.C., on September 21, 1996; he refused to hold a signing ceremony for DOMA and did not allow photographs to be taken of him signing it into law . The White House released a statement in which Clinton said "that the enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against any person on the basis of sexual orientation". </P> <P> In 2013, Mike McCurry, the White House press secretary at the time, recalled that "(Clinton's) posture was quite frankly driven by the political realities of an election year in 1996 ." James Hormel, who was appointed by Clinton as the first openly gay U.S. Ambassador, described the reaction from the gay community to Clinton signing DOMA as shock and anger . On Hormel's account, Clinton had been the first President to advocate gay rights, push for AIDS funding, support gay and lesbian civil rights legislation, and appoint open LGBT people to his Administration . Thus his signing of DOMA was viewed by much of the community as a great betrayal . </P> <P> Clinton did not mention DOMA in his 2004 autobiography . Over time, Clinton's public position on same - sex marriage shifted . He spoke out against the passage of California's Proposition 8 and recorded robocalls urging Californians to vote against it . In July 2009, he officially came out in support for same - sex marriage . </P> <P> On August 13, 2009, during Netroots Nation, when confronted by LGBT activist Lane Hudson, Clinton explained that he had to sign DOMA in order to prevent a constitutional amendment that would proscribe same - sex marriage: "We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary Congress, to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states . And if you look at the eleven referenda much later--in 2004, in the election--which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it's obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that ." </P>

The defense of marriage act of 1996 was passed by congress in response to