BOSTON — Conservatives concerned about inconsistencies in Governor Romney’s record on gay marriage and abortion said yesterday that the Republican of Massachusetts has some explaining to do. For now, at least, the potential presidential candidate isn’t talking.

The governor’s office issued a brief statement last weekend amid reports of a 1994 letter in which Mr. Romney, then a U.S. Senate candidate, pledged to be a more effective champion for gay causes than his opponent, Senator Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts. The statement said the governor has been a “champion of traditional marriage.”

At a gathering of San Diego County Republicans Monday night, Mr. Romney brushed aside a question from the Associated Press. “Thanks, I have other people to talk to right now,” he said.

Such dodges may not satisfy conservatives, who hold critical sway in the primaries and could opt for other possible candidates with strong records on social issues such as Senator Brownback of Kansas and Governor Huckabee of Arkansas.

Several conservative leaders are seeking answers from Mr. Romney.

“I am concerned, and I do think he needs to explain this,” the chief executive officer of the Free Congress Foundation, Paul Weyrich, said. “Because he either is or isn’t in favor of the homosexual agenda, and we need to know before we would get involved in his candidacy.”

A top member of the Southern Baptist Convention, Richard Land, was among a group of evangelicals who met with Mr. Romney at his home in October. Mr. Land said yesterday, “Christians believe in conversion, and so they’re open to listen, but when a candidate 12 years ago says he is more of a champion on these issues than Ted Kennedy, that needs to be explained.”

A spokesman for the Colorado-based evangelical organization Focus on the Family, Tom Minnery, said homosexuality is an emotional issue.

“You’ve got to be committed to your position for it or against it, or you’ll be swayed, so he’s got a lot of explaining to do,” Mr. Minnery said of the governor. Mr. Romney has repeatedly stated his opposition to gay marriage, but in the 1994 letter — sent in the final weeks of his failed Senate campaign against Mr. Kennedy — he cited his sensitivity to the concerns of the gay GOP group, the Log Cabin Republicans.

“As a result of our discussions and other interactions with gay and lesbian voters across the state, I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America’s gays and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent,” Mr. Romney wrote.

During that same campaign, Mr. Romney also stated his personal opposition to abortion but said he would not seek to change state abortion laws. As proof, he cited his mother’s own 1970 candidacy for the U.S. Senate as an abortion-rights supporter.

During Mr. Romney’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign, supporters distributed fliers at a Gay Pride Parade in Boston extending the candidate’s well wishes.

Mr. Weyrich said other conservatives had complained that Mr. Romney did not do enough this year to force the Massachusetts legislature into voting on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Despite the governor’s protests, the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate used a parliamentary tactic to recess rather than vote. Mr. Romney has now joined a group asking the Supreme Judicial Court — the same group of jurists who in November 2003 made Massachusetts the first state to allow gay marriage — to force a vote or else order the question onto the state’s 2008 ballot.

Prior to Mr. Romney’s appearance in San Diego on Monday, members of the conservative community circulated emails criticizing the governor for being a RINO — Republican In Name Only.