ALBANY -- Roughly 1,000 gay-rights advocates rallied at the Capitol Monday, hoping to convince the GOP-controlled Senate this is the year to make same-sex marriage legal in New York.

While the Democrat-led Assembly has passed legislation twice before, the Senate voted it down in 2009, when Senate Democrats had a 32-30 edge over Republicans. No Republicans voted for it, and a number of Democrats were opposed to the bill.