On September 24, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law, a landmark piece of legislation that defined marriage as the union between one man and one woman for federal purposes and allowed states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.
This act became a cornerstone of conservative efforts to uphold traditional family values against the growing push for marriage equality, energizing social conservatives and influencing Republican platforms for years until its partial overturn by the Supreme Court in 2013’s United States v. Windsor decision.