NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of same-sex couples lined up outside the city clerk's office to obtain marriage licenses Thursday morning but were turned away with a letter explaining that gay marriages are illegal in the state.

On Wednesday, the city's top lawyer ruled that local law prohibits gay marriage, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed to enforce the law. New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also said Wednesday that gay weddings are illegal, though one small-town mayor has conducted gay marriages and another plans to try to obtain license.

Mara Gottlieb, 33, and Camille Gonzalez, 38, were first in line at the New York City clerk's office.

"We're disappointed, but we think it's important for people to come here," Gottlieb said. "We want the politicians to know that this isn't going away."

Spitzer's legal opinion said current state law prohibits same-sex weddings, but the attorney general said he would leave it to the courts to decide if the law is constitutional.

"I personally would like to see the law changed but must respect the law as it now stands," Spitzer said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

Both sides of the polarizing issue had been waiting on Spitzer's opinion since last Friday, when the mayor of New Paltz, a small college town 75 miles north of Manhattan, married 25 same-sex couples. Village Mayor Jason West now faces 19 criminal counts and could face jail time.

West appeared in town court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty. Outside the courthouse about 200 supporters gave him a hero's welcome, cheering and singing as a jazz trio played "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

"I think that he is a patriot and I think he's a civil rights leader," said Mike Katz, a student at the State University at New Paltz. "We're making history here."

West said he will conduct another 10 to 20 marriages this weekend, but Village Trustee Robert Hebel said he intends to seek a temporary restraining order Thursday to stop West from marrying same-sex couples.

Officials in liberal pockets of the nation elsewhere vowed to continue issuing licenses for same-sex couples in defiance of critics and long-accepted laws.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski questioned the legality of Multnomah County issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying the state's 1863 marriage statute suggested marriage is a union between one man and one woman.

But the governor's words did little to deter the long line of gay couples snaking their way around a Multnomah County building, ducking under rainbow-colored umbrellas as they waited to pick up marriage licenses Wednesday.

"This means we finally get to enjoy what every other married couple takes for granted — it means we finally get to enter that world also," said Mary Li, a county employee who was the first to legalize her commitment to her longtime partner.

County officials estimate that over 400 marriage licenses were issued Wednesday to same-sex couples — four times as many as were granted last month on the first day San Francisco recognized gay unions. The licenses were to again be handed out Thursday.

Mayors and county officials in four states have allowed gay marriages, including San Francisco, which started the wedding march Feb. 12. New York and Oregon are among 12 states without laws explicitly defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Determined to stop gay marriages, Republican senators in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday they will move later this month to consider several versions of a constitutional amendment to block the same-sex unions.

The legal action against the New Paltz mayor prompted the head of a conservative group to demand that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer file criminal charges against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who many criticize for starting the latest crisis.

"He's setting an example of anarchy for the entire nation," said Scott Lively, head of the Pro-Family Law Center. "He does indeed deserve to be arrested for these crimes."

But West and Newsom may also have inspired John Shields, the mayor of Nyack, N.Y., who said he would lead a group of same-sex couples Thursday morning to the clerk's office to apply for marriage licenses.

"If we are denied, we will file a class-action suit against the government for denying us our rights," he said. Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner had said that licenses would not be granted.

In New Mexico, the Sandoval County clerk's office granted licenses to 26 same-sex couples last month before the state attorney general issued an opinion saying the licenses were invalid under state law.

The national debate began heating up last November, when Massachusetts' highest court ruled that gay couples are entitled to all the rights of marriage. State-sanctioned gay marriages were expected to start there in May.