Gay couples who want to get married in San Diego County under last week's state Supreme Court ruling will have to wait a little longer.

San Diego County will not issue them marriage licenses until the state writes new guidelines, county Clerk Gregory Smith said Monday.

The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling does not take effect immediately.

"We are in a holding pattern until such a time as we receive direction from the California State Office of Vital Records on implementing this decision," Smith said in a press release.

Dave Butler, the county's assistant clerk, said Monday that fewer than 10 same-sex couples had asked about marriage licenses, but none have been issued.

He said officials told the couples the county could not give them licenses. He said the couples were told to watch the county's Web site for updates on when that might change.

"We can't do anything yet," he said.

Suanne Buggy, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Vital Records, said the state is developing regulations to implement the court ruling statewide. She declined to say when the regulations would be released, saying only that they would be out "shortly."

"We're going to be in full compliance with the court ruling and we will be issuing guidelines to make sure that counties are in compliance with the ruling," Buggy said.

Ali Bay, a spokeswoman with the gay rights group Equality California, said the county's decision was expected.

"We expect that in the next 30 days or so, the court's ruling will become final, and we expect that it will become law and that counties will comply," Bay said.

The case before the state Supreme Court stems from a 2004 decision by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

In his opinion, Chief Justice Ronald George wrote that "an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibility to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation."

The court ruled 4-3 in favor of striking down Proposition 22, an eight-year-old voter approved initiative that defined marriage as between a man and a woman only.

The question over legalized, same-sex marriage likely will come back to state voters in November. Gay marriage opponents say they have gathered enough signatures to qualify the so-called Marriage Protection Act, which would amend the state constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal, for the ballot.

If passed, the constitutional amendment would override last week's Supreme Court ruling. Prop. 22 only added a statute to the California Family Code.

"The will of the people has been completely undermined by four individuals," said Ron Prentice, chairman of the ProtectMarriage.com coalition, which helped collect signatures for the proposed constitutional amendment. "In November, the people will have an opportunity to overrule the court's decision."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.