SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan judge will rule Friday in a case that could see the province become the seventh Canadian jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriages.

Justice Donna Wilson reserved her decision Wednesday after hearing from lawyers representing five couples who had been denied marriage licences because they were not of the opposite sex.

Greg Walen, lawyer for one of the couples, had filed a statement of claim seeking a declaratory judgment that the common-law definition of marriage be changed to include the wording "two people to the exclusion of others,'' rather than "two people of the opposite sex.''

Chris Bernier, a lawyer for the federal government, told Wilson the government did not contest the application but didn't consent either.

Justice Minister Frank Quennell had already indicated the Saskatchewan government would not contest the challenge either. He has said it's up to the federal government to decide who is allowed to marry, since the provinces only provide licences and register marriages.

Just before leaving office last year, former prime minister Jean Chretien referred the question of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court for an opinion. The court has yet to issue that opinion.

Same-sex marriage has been legalized in every province or territory where the constitutionality of banning it has been challenged in the courts. Gay and lesbian couples can marry in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, the Yukon and Nova Scotia.

In Tuesday's United States elections, voters in 11 states overwhelmingly rejected same-sex marriage as they embraced constitutional amendments that deny legal status to homosexual couples looking to tie the knot.

The amendments won, often by huge margins, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon -- the one state where gay-rights activists hoped to prevail.

None of the 11 states allows gay marriage now, although officials in Portland, Ore., married more than 2,900 same-sex couples last year before a judge halted the practice.