TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is decrying the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling declaring that gay couples have a right to marry anywhere in the country.

The Republican governor issued a statement Friday. He has been a strong supporter of the state’s ban on gay marriage. Voters approved an amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 2005 to reinforce that policy.

But the state’s ban is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed last year, and preliminary rulings allowed counties to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Most now do.

Brownback said in his statement, “Activist courts should not overrule the people of this state, who have clearly supported the Kansas Constitution’s definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.”

He said the state would review the ruling further.