Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. spent much of the day Tuesday explaining his support for civil unions, while critics — especially lawmakers — fumed he'd gone too far.

"I'm looking at it in its broadest sense … these are more the contractual rights I'm referring to," the governor told the Deseret News during one of a number of media interviews. "It's not like we're pushing a major initiative here."

Huntsman said his spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, was responding to a reporter's question when she said he supported civil unions as well as the "Common Ground" legislative initiative intended to extend the benefits of marriage to gay and other nontraditional couples.

"I'm a firm believer in the traditional construct of marriage, a man and a woman," the governor said. "But I also think that we can go a greater distance in enhancing equal rights for others in nontraditional relationships."

Huntsman said those relationships aren't limited to gay couples, but any two people living together in a financially dependent relationship. Given the troubled economy, he said, "this is probably a good time to be discussing some of these issues."

It is also a good time in light of the controversy surrounding Proposition 8 in California, the recently approved anti-gay marriage amendment supported by members of the LDS Church. "My desire, more than anything else, is to help heal the divided community," the governor said.

Regardless of what happens to the bills that are part of the Common Ground initiative, Huntsman said it's "important to have a communitywide discussion on these issues in a way that shows temperance and respect and an enhanced understanding."

The initiative does not appear to be going anywhere this session. Two bills — one extending hospital visitation and other rights to same-sex couples and the other making it illegal for landlords and employers to discriminate based on sexual orientation — are stuck in the House Rules Committee.

A resolution attempting to change Amendment 3 to the Utah Constitution, which bans gay marriage, has been abandoned by its sponsor. And a bill that would have given same-sex couples legal standing in wrongful-death suits, has already been shot down in committee.

The sponsor of that bill, the Legislature's only openly gay senator, Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, said he doesn't know "if the governor's statements politicized the issue in a way that's helpful or hurtful."

McCoy said the focus on civil unions may distract people from paying attention to what the initiative would provide.