BOSTON -- One day after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional -- clerks are being warned not to issue marriage certificates to gay couples.

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Lawmakers Weigh In

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that the Department of Public Health wants to maintain the status quo until the court's 180-day grace period is up. In the meantime, Gov. Mitt Romney wants to come up with an alternative proposal.

Legislative leaders were uncertain of what, if anything, they can do to stop gay marriage licenses from being issued. Many believe that there is little to no wiggle room. Romney disagrees.

"The Legislature is giving options within the decision made by the supreme court. The supreme court said you have to provide these basic rights to same-sex couples. Exactly which rights those are, is something that the Legislature and I will have a chance to work on and see if we can craft something that is civil union in style and work something out. That will be the law of our state until a constitutional amendment is put in place," Romney said.

Romney wants to push through a civil union bill, but House Speaker Rep. Thomas Finneran insists that he has too many other important issues taking up his time.

"I stated I won't be saying anything with regard to any dimension of this issue until I have a chance to read and fully digest the opinion. It is not going to happen today. It is not going to happen tomorrow," Finneran said.

The seven gay couples who filed the original lawsuit that the high court ruled on Tuesday believe that there is little that Romney can do.

"Why they gave the Legislature 180 days to do anything is beyond me because there is nothing that they can do. The SJC, they are not going to bargain. They made a decision. The Legislature can't say, 'Well, if we pass a civil union bill, will you back off on the marriage?' That isn't how it works," retired supreme court Judge Robert Barton said.

"The Legislature may need to appropriate money to reprint all those marriage license. The Legislature may need to change a few things along the way to be consistent with the Constitution. Whether or not the Legislature acts, the law will go into effect in 180 days," Sen. Jarrett Barrios said.

Advocates said that the high court made it clear that civil unions are not a substitute to marry. They said that without the right to marry, one is excluded from the full-range of human experience and denied full-protection of the law, according to four of the seven supreme court justices.

"This is much like that 1948 decision in California where California became the first case in the supreme court ever to strike down a ban on interracial marriage. At that point, there were 30 states that forbade interracial marriage. Nine out of 10 Americans supported those bans," plaintiff's attorney Mary Bonauto said.

Only a constitutional amendment could reverse the supreme court's decision. That could take a minimum of three years.