PORTLAND, Ore. — Gay marriage advocates reacted with disappointment to today's ruling nullifying same-sex marriage licenses issued last year in Multnomah County but said they aren't done fighting.

The Oregon Supreme Court's unanimous ruling said that state law has always limited marriage to a union between a man and a woman and that voters extended that standard to the state constitution last November.

Multnomah County, where nearly 3,000 same-sex couples were married a year ago, had no right to issue the licenses, the court said.

The ruling left open the possibility for the Legislature to recognize civil unions, which Gov. Ted Kulongoksi said on Wednesday he supports.

Marte Sheeran, who married Linda Duchek on March 8, said she believes Kulongoski's push for civil unions "is moving in the right direction."

Lonnie Roberts, the only Multnomah County commissioner to oppose same-sex marriages — and the only male on the commission — said the ruling makes sense because "this was a state issue, it was never a county issue."

Roberts, who was not consulted in the initial decision by his four fellow commissioners — all women — said that marriage has been considered a union between a man and a woman for the entire history of civilization. But he also left open the possibility of civil unions in order to ensure benefits for gay and lesbian couples.

"People in same-sex relationships want to protect themselves, their inheritance and other issues, and that is only fair," Roberts said. "The state is working on a civil unions, I am all for the civil unions."

Some of the first couples to be married when Multnomah County approved same-sex marriages were disappointed by the ruling.

"Obviously we're devastated," said Eric Warshaw, whose marriage to Steven Knox was the first between two males in Multnomah County.

"We put a lot of effort into this emotionally. It's not the outcome we had hoped for. We may have to go through the legislative process or back to the voters," Warshaw said.

Basic Rights Oregon, a gay rights advocacy group, noted the court did not rule on whether the Oregon Constitution requires civil unions.

"Nothing about this decision precludes Basic Rights Oregon or the ACLU from continuing to advocate for civil unions in Oregon courts or the Oregon Legislature," the group said in a statement, adding that it and the American Civil Liberties Union will work to support a civil union law.

"We know that struggles to end inequality do not succeed overnight. This is the latest chapter in a long movement. Growing public understanding and the momentum of history are on our side," Basic Rights Oregon said.

Rebekah Kassell, spokeswoman for the group, noted the invalidation of the Multnomah County marriages comes just as many of the couples marked their anniversaries.

"We feel enormous sadness knowing that thousands of same-sex couples who recently celebrated their first anniversaries as married couples have had those marriages painfully revoked," Kassell said.

But Tim Nashif, head of the Oregon Family Council and the Defense of Marriage Coalition, said the couples should not have assumed anything about the validity of their marriages until the Oregon Supreme Court ruled.

"The travesty of this is the Multnomah County commissioners took the law into their own hands," Nashif said.

He also urged the Legislature to craft a law that would ensure benefits, but said the council will offer a more extensive bill than Kulongoski's proposal, in order to include people in all kinds of situations, "whether they're gays, lesbians, two sisters, two brothers, two widows, two widowers — it's not specific to the family situation."

But Jim Morros, who is married to Richard Columbo, said the Supreme Court ruling sidestepped the broader issue of equal protections and focused on Multnomah County.

"There was a rich opportunity here to provide protections for all Oregon families and I don't think they did that," he said.

"This can't change my relationship with my family," he said. "Coming at tax time it makes me pause and look at the taxes I pay in this state. I sometimes don't feel like a full-fledged citizen."