On August 13, 2009, during Netroots Nation, when confronted by LGBT activist Lane Hudson, Clinton explained that he had to sign DOMA in order to prevent a constitutional amendment that would proscribe same-sex marriage: "We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary Congress, to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states. And if you look at the eleven referenda much later—in 2004, in the election—which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it's obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that."