President Barack Obama has supported and continues to support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), an aide clarified on Saturday.

The clarification comes a day after Obama was asked whether he would use his second term to “ensure that all [gay] Americans have equal rights in the eyes of the federal government?” during a live interview with MTV inside the White House.

Obama answered that he believes that “same-sex couples have to be treated before the eyes of the law the same way as heterosexual couples” and that “for us to try to legislate federally into this is probably the wrong way to go.”

DOMA is the 1996 law which prohibits federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

“President Obama has been consistent since early in his administration in his support for repealing DOMA,” Obama spokeswoman Clo Ewing told BuzzFeed. “The president has and continues to support the repeal of DOMA and he endorsed legislation currently pending in Congress that would do just do that.”

The campaign stressed that Obama was not being asked about DOMA.

In fact, Obama later stated, “I've stood up and said I'm opposed to the so-called Defense Against Marriage Act … I've said that's wrong.” However, many media outlets only quoted the president as saying the issue belonged to the states.