SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- James Eslick and Jake Rowe tried to get married Wednesday morning in Sacramento, but they were turned away by county officials in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.

Sacramento County, acting on the advice of an attorney, joined several other counties around the state that have stopped issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

Other counties that have stopped issuing such licenses include Yolo, Sonoma, San Diego, San Bernardino and Tuolumne.

In backing Proposition 8 on Tuesday, California voters supported a constitutional amendment overturning a state Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to wed just months ago.

Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday that same-sex marriges performed up until Tuesday are valid and he will defend them. But he added that any such marriages performed Wednesday or later are not valid because Proposition 8 is in effect.

The Associated Press called the Proposition 8 race about about 9:30 a.m., but even after that some counties were still issuing same-sex licenses. Sacramento County issued a couple licenses early in the day before stopping by late morning.

Eslick and Rowe planned to wed in October 2009, but rushed to the county clerk-recorder's office Wednesday after learning about the results of Proposition 8.

They filled out the necessary paperwork, but a clerk came out just minutes before their ceremony and told them they were too late.

"It's kind of heartbreaking," Rowe said. "You know, ultimately all we can say is we should have come and done it before, but I guess the point is we still love each other. We'll still have our ceremony next fall, and although we don't have that piece of paper, someday we will have it."

Wanda Dark, assistant clerk-recorder, confirmed that Sacramento County will no longer offer same-sex marriage licenses and will stop offering ceremonies.

With 98.3 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 8 was passing 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent. The final results have yet to be certified by the state Secretary by State Debra Bowen.

Some provisional and absentee ballots remained to be tallied, but based on trends and the locations of the votes still outstanding, the margin of support in favor of the initiative was secure.

Proposition 8 overturns the California Supreme Court decision that overturned the 2000 ban and legalized same-sex marriage in the state in mid-June. Since then, an estimated 18,000 gay and lesbian couples, many of them from other states, have been married. The passage of Proposition 8 has left those marriages in legal limbo.

Meanwhile, Lambda Legal Foundation has already filed a petition with the state Supreme Court in an effort to invalidate Proposition 8.

The passage of Prop. 8 represents a crushing political defeat for gay rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on the contentious issue had shifted enough since the state overwhelmingly passed an earlier gay marriage ban in 2000 to help them defeat the measure.

"We pick ourselves up and trudge on," Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said early Wednesday when it appeared the measure was headed for passage. "There has been enormous movement in favor of full equality in eight short years. That is the direction this is heading, and if it's not today or it's not tomorrow, it will be soon."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, an opponent of Prop. 8, lamented the loss of the right of same-sex couples to marry.

"We have now done something that no other state has ever done, certainly in my lifetime, and that's to amend a constitution to strip rights away from people," Newsom said. "And now tens of thousands of human beings in our state ... now have had their lives uprooted."

Proposition 8 supporters were very happy with election results.

"People believe in the institution of marriage," Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign said after declaring victory early Wednesday. "It's one institution that crosses ethnic divides, that crosses partisan divides. ... People have stood up because they care about marriage and they care a great deal."