COLUMBIA--Riding a surging wave of publicity, five gay couples in South Carolina applied for marriage licenses Thursday but were -- as expected -- denied.

LOU KRASKY/AP Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch denies the application of gay couples seeking a marriage license Thursday at the Richland County Courthouse.

It was the latest event in a gay rights movement that's forging ahead in South Carolina, despite public opposition and legislators' attempts to strengthen laws banning gay marriages.

The couples, wearing white-rose boutonnieres, some arm in arm, walked into a county courthouse in the heart of the Bible Belt, filled out marriage license applications and then were told by a judge they would not be accepted.

"You may absolutely fill out the paperwork. We just won't be able to give you a license," said Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch, who was flanked by two city police officers. "Again I'm sorry. I respect what you're trying to do, and I respect your desires, but right now the law in South Carolina is we can't issue a license" to same-sex couples.

The couples know the law, but they're not happy with it.

Patricia Noble, 56, and Ruth Reedy, 45, walked into the marriage license office several minutes after some media and television cameras filed out, following the other four couples who had advertised their attempts to apply for licenses.

The women said they weren't there to be on television, they were there seeking a marriage license.

"It was on the news that you could come here and get a license and get married," said Noble, a registered nurse in Columbia.

Noble said she had heard legislators introduced bills this week in the South Carolina General Assembly that would prohibit the state from recognizing a same-sex marriage performed elsewhere.

But she hoped Thursday would lend a different result.