Democratic presidential candidate
Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday reiterated that he does not agree
with political rival Hillary Clinton's assertion about passage of the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
The Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a
key provision of DOMA, which prohibited federal agencies from
recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
Sanders on Sunday criticized Clinton
for saying that former President Bill Clinton signed the law as a
“defensive action” to prevent passage of an amendment to the U.S
Constitution which would ban gay marriage.
During Tuesday's appearance on MSNBC's
The Rachel Maddow Show, Sanders, who as a House member voted
against DOMA, denied that he was attacking Clinton, saying that he
viewed the comments as a contrast.
“You are drawing a sharp contrast
here,” Maddow
said.
“I am,” Sanders responded. “And
the reason that I am is I think it's important for voters in the
Democratic primary process to understand one very important fact. …
Here is my point, it was a simple point. I have had in many years in
politics had to make tough votes. … The times then were very, very
different.”
“It bothered me hearing Secretary
Clinton saying, 'Well, you know, DOMA really was about preventing
something even worse.' That just wasn't true. It wasn't true,” he
added.
Maddow followed up by asking the
Vermont senator about his opposition in 2006 to Vermont moving from
civil unions to full marriage equality.
Sanders said that Vermont was “torn
in a way that I had never seen the state torn” after it became the
first state in the nation to recognize gay couples with civil unions.
“My view was, give us a little bit of
time,” he said.
(Related: Gay
rights activists mostly side with Bernie Sanders on Hillary Clinton's
DOMA explanation.)