Still Huntsman recalled being "clobbered" for the stand he took in favor of civil unions after being elected to a second term and said he never imagined then that the issue would have advanced as much as it has. "If you had told me we would be where we are today in the evolution of this discussion, I would have said, 'No way,'" Huntsman said. His views changed, too, and by 2013 he was calling for conservatives to push to legalize same-sex marriage.