OLYMPIA - The state Supreme Court will stand by its endorsement of Washington's gay marriage ban, justices said Wednesday.

Gay and lesbian couples had asked the justices to reconsider their 5-4 ruling upholding the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The court's denial, in a one-page ruling signed by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, is the final word in the case. Further appeal is not possible because no federal legal issues were raised.

The high court rarely reconsiders its rulings, and few observers expected justices to revisit a ruling that took nearly 18 months to craft.

"Having taken as long as they took to make up their minds, I though it was unlikely that they would change them," said Assistant Attorney General Bill Collins, who defended the gay-marriage ban in court.

Gay marriage supporters said the ruling was particularly disheartening because it came on the same day that New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples are entitled to the benefits heterosexual married couples have.

"Just as the New Jersey court recognized the discrimination that gays and lesbians face and said they're entitled to be treated the same, our court essentially declined to do that," said Lisa Stone, director of the Northwest Women's Law Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case.