DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES

 

In 1996, Congress moved to vote on a bill called the Defense of Marriage Act. The law stated, in part:

 

Section 2. Powers reserved to the states

No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.

 

Section 3. Definition of marriage

In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

 

It sailed though the vote, 342 to 67 in the House and 85 to 14 in the Senate, and was signed into law on September 21, 1996. These are excerpts of testimony from politicians who voted against DOMA.