Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding a meeting to prepare for a final push on the bill this week. | AP Photo N.Y. at the altar of gay marriage

In a development with national implications, New York is looking more and more like it will become the next state to legalize gay marriage as a bill gains momentum in the legislature ahead of a landmark vote that could come by midweek.

“I believe that votes will be there for marriage equality if the vote happens,” Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday afternoon. “I’ve had enough conversations with enough Republicans” to think the bill can succeed.


Cuomo, who strongly backs gay marriage, is meeting Monday afternoon with elected officials, gay rights advocates and labor groups to prepare for a final push on the bill this week to address the questions of whether Republicans in the state Senate will allow a vote and whether there is enough GOP support to pass the bill. The legislative session ends next Monday.

At the start of the day Monday, the bill’s supporters still needed six more votes but, by early afternoon, the three undecided Democrats indicated that they’re supporting the bill, The New York Times reported. All but one Democrat backs the measure but supporters still must find three more votes. At least seven of the 32 Republicans in the state Senate may vote for the bill - which would put it over the top, the New York Post reported Monday.

And Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos told reporters in Albany that he would permit members of his party to vote for their conscience. “If they favor it, I’ve always said, they can vote for it,” he said as he headed into a meeting with Cuomo.

Republicans, Skelos said, are set to meet privately on Tuesday to decide whether to hold a vote. “We’re going to have a serious discussion about it. It’s a serious issue,” he said. “Many lives are affected by it, emotionally and personally, and we’ll make the final decision.”

A gay marriage bill has already passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly but has never cleared the Republican-led state Senate in past years.

Meanwhile, gay rights advocates are already cautiously optimistic about the bill’s potential success.

“Here is an example where a new governor with a divided legislature and a state facing its own economic hardships looks like he will be able to deliver in a pretty breathtaking way,” said Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters and a former advisor to President Bill Clinton.

“New York sets trends and this is a trend, if it happens, that we hope would sweep the country,” he said.

Gay marriage is already legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. It was also briefly legal in California until voters passed Proposition 8, which is being challenged in federal court.

Two years ago, when Democrats had a majority in the Senate, a same-sex marriage bill fell 24-38. This time, though, it has the will of a forceful governor and polling that is more favorable than ever before.

A Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month found 58 percent of New Yorkers supporting gay marriage, while 36 percent were opposed. Among Republicans, 34 percent said they would back legalized gay marriage, while 64 percent were opposed.

But there is still an effort by opponents to stop momentum on the bill.

The National Organization for Marriage last month pledged $1.5 million to mobilize opponents against the bill. The group was part of efforts to oppose gay marriage bills in Maryland and Rhode Island earlier this year and, “we expect the same in New York,” NOM president Brian Brown told The Associated Press in May.