Around a dozen gay couples started exchanging wedding vows Friday in the village of New Paltz, N.Y.

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The ceremonies were presided over by Mayor Jason West, who pledged to hold the weddings even though state officials warned he may be breaking the law.

The move opens another front in the growing national battle over gay marriages.

Two men were the first to wed to the cheers of hundreds of onlookers outside the village hall.

The mayor says America is witnessing "the flowering of the largest civil rights movement the country's had in a generation."

But there are questions over the legality of the ceremonies, since the village clerk didn't issue marriage licenses. State officials had warned that New York doesn't allow the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It also said New York courts have recognized only marriages between a man and a woman as valid.

The officials issued a statement saying any municipal clerk who issues a marriage license outside of these guidelines -- and anyone who officiates such marriages -- would be violating state law.

West says he believes the marriages will still be legal, based on the opinions of lawyers he's talked to.

Some legal experts say the law doesn't specifically ban such weddings. West won office last year on the Green Party line.

California Courts

Meanwhile, California's attorney general was taking the gay-marriage issue to the state Supreme Court Friday.

Bill Lockyer is under orders from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take "immediate steps" to stop the parade of gay marriages in San Francisco.

Thousands of same-sex couples have gotten married over the past two weeks since Mayor Gavin Newsom declared a ban violates the state constitution. Those who have married include entertainer Rosie O'Donnell.

Lockyer will ask the court for a clarification about whether San Francisco's action violates state law. Lower courts have refused to put a stop to the marriages.

In March 2000, Californians passed a proposition that defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. San Francisco contends that law is superseded by the constitution's equal protection clause.

Bush: Driving Toward 'Ideal'

Earlier this week, President George W. Bush called for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as an institution involving a man and a woman. He said Friday that marriage between a man and a woman is the ideal and it's his job to "drive policy toward the ideal."

However, Bush declined to say how same-sex weddings harm traditional ones.

In calling for the amendment, he cited the actions in San Francisco -- as well as a court ruling in Massachusetts that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates that state's Constitution -- for driving the need to add clarity to the issue.

Some members of Congress, including Republican leaders, suggested that Congress may not move quickly on the idea, however.