Washington (CNN) Republicans seeking the White House struggled to find their footing Friday after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, splitting between pushing to fight the issue directly or looking for "religious freedom" protections.

Candidates running closer to the center, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham, issued tightly-parsed language urging their colleagues to focus on protecting "religious freedom". And Ohio Gov. John Kasich urged Republicans to respect the ruling and ditch the matter altogether.

Jeb Bush

"In a country as diverse as ours, good people who have opposing views should be able to live side by side. It is now crucial that as a country we protect religious freedom and the right of conscience and also not discriminate," Bush said in his statement.

The Bush campaign later told CNN he would oppose efforts to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage.

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