By Jill Colvin, Ben Fractenberg and Kareem Johnson
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — The state Senate is expected to vote on an historic gay marriage bill Friday night.
Senate leaders reached an agreement late Friday afternoon on marriage protections for religious groups, a key sticking point in the heated and prolonged debate over the highly-anticipated legislation.
"After many hours of deliberation and discussion over the past several weeks among the members, it has been decided that same sex marriage legislation will be brought to the full Senate for an up or down vote," Skelos said in a statement.
"As I have said many times, this is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate," he said.
The State Assembly voted 82 to 47 on the new language shortly before 8 p.m., paving the way for the vote soon.
Several other major bills were also on the agenda for the night, including strengthened rent regulations, which passed overwhelmingly.
"Oh my God. I feel so lucky to be here," said Jake Goodman, a founding member of Queer Rising, as he waited with hundreds in Albany for the vote Friday night.
"There is this sense that history is going to be made tonight," he said.
Throughout the day, advocates had expressed their frustrations after a week of waiting for a vote.
"It's kind of infuriating," Goodman had said earlier Friday. "Our patience is up."
At the West Village's landmark Stonewall Inn Friday night, advocates expressed cautious optimism about the vote.
"We've been getting close and getting close, and getting let down again and again," said Wil Fisher, director of communications for the Ali Forney Center, which provides housing for homeless LGBT youth.
"I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hopeful."
Domestic partners Erica Freudenstein, 46, and Cybele Polichastro, 40, of the West Village, said they got engaged Friday morning in anticipation of the law passing.
"It will be a game-changer for sure," Freudenstein said, adding she's tired of not having the same rights as straight couples. "There's always been something separating us."
Rene Moraida, 28, a gay former serviceman who was living in California during the Proposition 8 battle, said he has enjoyed seeing things like the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy against gays serving openly in the military fall in favor of equal treatment.
"I'm glad to see in my lifetime all these walls [that have] been in the way for LGBT rights and human rights in general being knocked down one by one," he said.
Ari Sivion, 57, whose partner of 18 years recently died, said the financial benefits of legalizing gay marriage were more important than its symbolic meaning.
"We are not out here to say we would be happy to get married," he said, adding he is not able to collect his late partner's pension benefits. "We want to get married for a purpose, to get rights."
Just after 4 p.m., the New York Times reported that leaders had reached consensus on new language in legislation passed by the Assembly last week that provided better protections for religious groups who believe that marriage should only be between a woman and a man.
Under the protections, religious groups could not be sued for refusing to marry same-sex couples.
"It's a shame what's happening," said Samaris Gross of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, which adamantly opposes gay marriage on the grounds that it stands counter to God's plans.
"It's the beginning of go ahead and do whatever you want," she said.
But if the measure passes, she said there's little opponents can do.
"We will never accept it," she said.
Queer Rising Founder Natasha Dillon, said that after so many days in waiting, it's "Game's over" for Albany.
"This is our lives. It's our families. It's our equality," she said.
