State Rep. Bob McDermott on Thursday acknowledged defeat but remained defiant after a Hawaii judge upheld the state's newly enacted gay marriage law.

“All you can do is all you can do,” McDermott told reporters after the hearing. “And that's what we tried to do today. We tried to give a voice to the people of Hawaii.”

Democratic Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the bill into law on Wednesday, a day after it cleared the Hawaii Legislature. The law takes effect on December 2.

(Related: Hawaii governor signs gay marriage law; Takes effect Dec. 2.)

McDermott, a Republican, filed the suit as lawmakers debated the issue during a 2-week special session called for by Abercrombie. However, Circuit Court Judge Karl Sakamoto said he could not hear the case until after the bill had become law.

McDermott has argued that a 1998 voter-approved constitutional amendment only allows the Legislature to define marriage as a heterosexual union.

“What the voters thought they were voting – the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples only,” said McDermott. “That word 'only' is key. That was mailed to every voter in 1998.”

He also claimed that his credibility is at stake, saying that his electability will suffer because voters will think he misled them into believing that the amendment would prohibit the state from legalizing same-sex marriage.

Judge Sakamoto disagreed, saying that the Legislature has an inherent right to define marriage through the enactment of statutes, which includes same same-sex couples as it has done.

“The court finds the Legislature has the power to define and regulate marriage in the state of Hawaii. After all the legal complexity of the court's analysis, the court will conclude that same-sex marriage in Hawaii is legal,” Sakamoto said.

State Attorney General David Louie, who defended the law in court, said that he was pleased with the judge's decision.

“I'm very pleased with the court's ruling,” he told reporters. “I think the court clearly said that SB1 is constitutional. SB1 can go forward. The Legislature has the power to enact SB1 under its general powers as a Legislature.”

McDermott has not said whether he will pursue an appeal.