The Build Up: Political Backlash and federal Intervention
The mid-1990s witnessed a powerful conservative political resurgence, famously signaled by the 1994 "Contract with America" which granted Republicans control of both houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. This shifting political climate, heavily influenced by traditionalist and religious advocacy groups, viewed the recent legal breakthroughs for same-sex couples in Hawaii as a direct threat to the traditional institution of marriage. Fearful that the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause would force conservative states to legally recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, lawmakers quickly mobilized to construct a preemptive legal firewall.
This legislative backlash culminated in 1996 with the drafting and intense debating of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Introduced with overwhelming bipartisan support, DOMA sought to strictly manage the definition of marriage on two levels: it permitted individual states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages granted by other states, and it explicitly defined marriage at the federal level as a legal union exclusively between one man and one woman. Despite fierce resistance from LGBTQ+ activists and civil rights defenders who argued the bill institutionalized discrimination, the law passed with a veto-proof majority in Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in September 1996, dealing a severe blow to the early marriage equality movement.