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Bernard Sanders has been critical of Hillary Clinton for her recent characterization of the Defense of Marriage Act as a “defensive action” against discrimination against LGBT people in 1996. On Tuesday, the tables were turned when he was pressed about his stated opposition in 2006 to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Vermont.

The Democratic candidate made the remarks during an interview on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” where Clinton on the same set last week invoked the ire of gay activists for her questionable recollection of the context of DOMA’s enactment.

Sanders reiterated his criticism of Clinton he first articulated Saturday during the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, saying her position DOMA was intended to stave off a U.S. constitutional amendment “bothered” him. In 1996, Sanders was among 57 House members to vote against DOMA, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

“We live in a tough world and leadership counts,” Sanders said. “It’s great that people evolve and change their minds. I respect that. I’m not being demeaning her. But it is important to stand up when the going is tough, and that was a particularly tough vote.”

But then host Rachel Maddow turned the scrutiny to Sanders, questioning him on a little-noticed quotation in 2006 in the Vermont-based Times Argus at the time a Federal Marriage Amendment was discussed in Congress.

At the time, Sanders was opposed to the amendment, but is quoted as saying when asked if Vermont should legalize same-sex marriage, “Not right now, not after what we went through.”

Sanders defended his 2006 opposition to same-sex marriage to Maddow by recalling Vermont had legalized civil unions just six years ago in 2000.

“Vermont was the first state in the union to pass civil unions, and trust me, I was there and it brought forth just a whole lot of emotion, and the state was torn in a way I have never seen the state torn,” Sanders said. “So Vermont led the nation in that direction, and what my view was give us a little bit of time.”

It should be noted Vermont legalized civil unions as a result of a court order requiring the legislature to enact some kind of relationship recognition for same-sex couples legally equal to marriage. The state legislature opted for civil unions, not outright marriage equality.

When Maddow mentioned the internal rancor in Vermont at the time, Sanders replied, “I felt that at the time, given Vermont had gone first in breaking new ground, let’s take it easy for a little while. That was my reasoning.”

Maddow tempered her questioning by saying she doesn’t think Sanders at all was anti-gay, prompting Sanders to talk about the revolutionary nature of civil unions in Vermont. The state didn’t legalize same-sex marriage until 2009.

“It’s a huge deal to say that if you are gay you can get the same benefits as a straight couple,” Sanders said, “That was pretty revolutionary at the time. it spilt our state. And I thought that things she calm down before we go further. That was my motive.”

When Maddow asked whether that opposition to same-sex marriage in 2006 was the same kind of political calculation for which he criticized Clinton over DOMA, Sanders denied the similarity, saying he was instead taking her to task for a revision of history.

“All that I criticized Secretary Clinton on was saying something that wasn’t accurate,” Sanders said. “You can argue that somebody may — I don’t agree with DOMA, but politically I have to do it. You can make that argument, but you can’t say that DOMA was passed in order to prevent something worse. That is just not the case. That was the only point that I want to make.”

Although Sanders and Clinton both have undertaken an evolution on the issue of same-sex marriage, both have come to support marriage rights for same-sex couples.