Idaho GOP candidate for governor Tommy Ahlquist has changed the wording on his website about his position on gay marriage, the AP reports today, deleting a promise to continue fighting legal same-sex marriage – which many read as a promise to take the state back to court on an issue on which the U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled.

Here’s what the “Protect the Sanctity of Marriage” section of Ahlquist’s “blueprint” for Idaho says now:

“Tommy believes that marriage should be the union of a man and a woman. As our governor, he will support policies that promote and safeguard the traditional institution of marriage.”

Previously, it had those same two sentences, followed by this:

“He will fight to protect Idaho’s right to define marriage within our state and support the current definition of marriage in Idaho as law.”

I asked Ahlquist about this position statement when I interviewed him at his downtown Boise office on June 20, and he said then that he might change the wording. Here’s what he had to say when I asked him what he meant by the original statement in his blueprint:

“I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, I believe that once I see language out, there’s a way to balance this, and I think a lot of people are doing that. But that’s my stance, it’s always been my stance. Then I think we deal with wording that comes from these different rulings, and as governor, I’ll, you know, react to those. But I think they’ve been dealing with it in the Legislature for long time. I think there’s a way to balance that.” He added, “As you know, they’ve been working on language, right? They’ve been considering language?”

I responded that I’ve not heard of any language being debated in the Legislature on changing the marriage definition – just a discussion on whether or not the court-invalidated language that’s still in Idaho’s Constitution, banning same-sex marriage, should be repealed or not, and so far, the Legislature hasn’t taken any action on that.

Ahlquist said, “I believe in religious liberty, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, and I believe we need to balance it to try to, between civil liberties and…”

I asked him if he was referring to the “Add the Words” debate, in which Idaho has been debating different versions of legislation to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; nothing’s been enacted on that, either, though Utah has passed anti-discrimination legislation that also includes provisions dealing with religious liberty.

“I think that the same thing will happen with this,” Ahlquist said. “You’ve had a ruling, and we’ve got to figure that out. I don’t have anything else to say other than that.”

When I asked whether he planned to take the same-sex marriage issue back to court if elected governor, he said, “No, no.” So, how would he fight it? “I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, that’s fundamental for me, I believe that,” he said. “I believe that we’ve got to balance that with the rights of others, too, and that’s the needle that we thread.”

So I asked Ahlquist if he believes the marriages of legally married same-sex couples in Idaho, where gay marriage has been legal since October of 2014, should be annulled.

“I think the court’s ruled on that now, right?” he said. “I believe in the ruling of a court of law. Once the Supreme Court ruled on that, then that’s the rule on it.”

So, I asked, why did he put his promise to “fight” that on his website as one of the 12 key issues in his “blueprint” for Idaho?

“Oh, we probably oughta look at it,” Ahlquist said, “because I can see the way you read that, and I understand the question, but the Supreme Court’s ruled.”

Ahlquist also discussed the issue last week on the Point of Personal Privilege Podcast with Melissa Davlin and Seth Ogilvie; you can listen to the podcast here.