Romney backs off ban of same-sex marriages

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Gov. Mitt Romney has dropped his push for the courts to block same-sex marriages, and said Friday he has no specific ideas how to prevent town clerks from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

Same-sex weddings will become legal on May 17 by edict of the state's highest court, which ruled in November that it is unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from marrying.

The Legislature on Monday approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban gay marriage but legalize civil unions, and Romney urged state Attorney General Thomas Reilly to ask the Supreme Judicial Court for a stay on issuing licenses until after voters weighed in on the amendment in 2006.

Reilly refused, and Romney said he would stop pressuring the attorney general.