About 50 gay couples, some singing wedding songs and carrying bouquets, traveled in a caravan from town to town around Long Island on Friday in a futile search for any official willing to issue them marriage licenses.

Town clerks and their aides in Babylon, Islip and Brookhaven politely told the couples they were not willing to issue licenses, or even applications for licenses, citing an edict from state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer earlier this week that gay marriages are currently not permitted under state law.

"This office will not be issuing licenses to same-sex couples," said deputy town clerk Laurie Murray, standing on the steps of Brookhaven Town Hall in Patchogue.

"Shame! Shame!" came the response from the couples and their supporters, who nevertheless went inside and received a printed statement citing Spitzer's legal opinion, as well as that of the state Health Department, which oversees the issuance of marriage licenses.

The first to be turned away Friday morning were Sheree Jeanes, 33, and Bonnie Reich, 42, of Huntington, who entered the Babylon town clerk's office only to receive a one-page statement shooting down their marriage plans.

"We're disappointed," Jeanes said. "We want the same rights as any other couple, and we feel that we deserve that."

Her partner said they would join any legal action taken to help their cause.

David Kilmnick, the executive director of Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, was also refused a marriage license to marry his partner, Robert Vitelli.

"How is it going to hurt anybody?" Kilmnick asked afterward. "The world's not going to crumble ... It's only going to get stronger as more gay and lesbian people commit to stable families."

Kilmnick said Spitzer's pronouncement Wednesday that gay marriage violates state law will not deter him and his supporters. "It's another hurdle that we have to jump over. He left it to the courts, so we're going to bring it to the courts to decide."

In Manhattan, the gay rights group Lambda Legal said it filed suit in state Supreme Court seeking the right for same-sex couples to become legally wed.

"This is the whole enchilada," said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the group. "We seek, and intend to win, full marriage for gay and lesbian couples across New York -- nothing more and nothing less."

Many of those participating in the Long Island caravan Friday said they intended to either file, or join lawsuits challenging the law. While the couples visited only three town halls on Friday, Kilmnick said smaller groups of couples planned to visit other municipalities around Long Island.

Both sides on the polarizing issue had been awaiting Spitzer's opinion since Feb. 27, when the mayor of New Paltz, a 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; he has pleaded innocent.

West said Friday he will postpone a second round of same-sex weddings that had been planned for Saturday so he can speak to Spitzer next week.

"I'm sure people will be as disappointed, but I want to make sure we can find as many potential allies as possible," West said.

On Thursday, dozens of same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses were turned away from the New York City clerk's office with a letter explaining that gay marriages are illegal.

"New York state law," the clerk's letter said, "does not authorize this office to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples."

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