NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (AP) – A day after the 26-year-old mayor of this Hudson Valley village officiated at the marriage ceremonies of two-dozen gay and lesbian couples, more than 500 others had put their names on a waiting list to do the same.

“Our staff and phone lines are getting overwhelmed,” Mayor Jason West said. “We can’t physically handle the number of calls that we’re getting.”

The Green Party mayor of this college village 75 miles north of New York City said he will officiate at more weddings. “We’ll do our part. I urge other mayors to start solemnizing these things,” he said.

West led 21 gay and lesbian couples through wedding vows before a cheering outdoor crowd, then did three or four more after that, he said. Saying New York domestic relations laws are gender-neutral, he said he abided by the state constitution and upheld his oath of office.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer refused a request for an injunction from state health officials, who say marriages for gays and lesbians are not legal. Spitzer said that question will be determined by the courts.

Amid the furor, President Bush announced he backs a constitutional amendment banning marriage for gays and lesbians.

The state Health Department has said New York’s domestic relations law already bars the issuance of marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples and that New York courts have recognized only marriages between men and women. A clerk who issues a marriage license outside the guidelines, and anybody who officiates at such a marriage would be violating state law, the department said.

Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams Jr. said he advised the mayor by letter that state law bans a public official from performing a marriage knowing the couple doesn’t have a license.

On Tuesday, March 2, West was charged with 19 criminal counts for performing marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples – solemnizing marriages without a license, a misdemeanor under the domestic relations law, according to Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams.

Although West could face a maximum penalty of a year in jail, Williams said a jail term wasn’t being contemplated at this point.

West performed wedding ceremonies for 25 gay and lesbian couples, making him the second mayor in the country to perform marriages for gays and lesbians. More than 3,400 couples have been married in San Francisco.

West insisted his actions were legal.

Williams said he believed the New Paltz police served West with a summons that would require him to report to town court.

He said the misdemeanor charges do not hinge on whether marriage for gays and lesbians is legal in New York, only that the weddings were performed for people without marriage licenses.