In 1996, Clyburn voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which at the time passed with majority Democratic support and near-unanimous Republican support. The act restricted federal recognition of marriage to the union of a man and a woman, and explicitly granted states the power to ban same-sex marriage and refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. The House Judiciary Committee had explicitly said the act was meant to "express moral disapproval of homosexuality". The act passed by an 85-vote majority in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
