Despite a Republican majority in the New York Senate, Governor Andrew Cuomo says he'll push lawmakers to legalize gay marriage, the New York Times reported.

The Democratic governor told reporters on Wednesday: “We'll be working very hard to pass it.”

As a candidate, Cuomo said he wanted to be the governor that signs a gay marriage bill into law.

But efforts by Cuomo's predecessor, David Paterson, led to a December, 2009 loss in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. Senators voted by an unexpectedly wide margin, 38 to 24, against the bill.

The paper notes that the chamber's composition has not changed all that much over the past 14 months.

Gay marriage backers, however, insist what has changed is public opinion in the state.

“This is legislation whose time has come,” Ross D. Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, told the paper.

A Quinnipiac University poll released two weeks ago showed a majority (56%) of New Yorkers support legalizing the institution.

New York State Senator Thomas Duane has pledged to introduce a gay marriage bill this session.