Gay City News reports that a high-stakes meeting that included the governor, senior Democratic lawmakers and top gay advocates offered “the best sign yet that marriage equality may become a reality by New Year’s Day.”

Shortly after 8 p.m., Paterson, four senior Senate Democrats — Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx and Westchester, the deputy majority leader; Eric Adams of Brooklyn; and Manhattanites Eric Schneiderman and Thomas K. Duane, the measure’s lead sponsor — and Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), the state’s LGBT lobby, appeared before the press to announce that the Senate leadership has made a specific commitment to hold a debate and vote on marriage equality before the end of 2009.

The implications cannot be underestimated. Since April, Paterson has consistently called for a vote, which ESPA on several occasions demanded and Duane said repeatedly he has the bipartisan support to pass.

But, to date, the two top Senate Democrats — first Malcolm Smith of Queens, and since a month-long mutiny this past summer by two party members that temporarily denied Democrats the majority, John Sampson of Brooklyn — have pledged to bring a vote only when they can be assured of passage. Given that some of the yes votes Duane and ESPA say they’ve secured have not been made public, it has been difficult to hold leadership accountable according to their standard.

Now that has changed. “For the very first time, we have an historic commitment from the Senate majority to bring the bill to the floor,” Van Capelle told Gay City News the morning after the announcement. “I believe that we had the votes to pass the bill in June. I believe if it had been debated last night we would have had the votes.”