ALBANY, N.Y. -- Nivek Moshier considers himself a hopeless romantic who is hopeful that as a gay man, he'll be able to say "I do" in New York State someday.

"It's the right to be happy. It's the right to be equal. I want to be equal in the nation of my birth," said Moshier.

He joined about a dozen others rallying in front of Albany's City Hall as part of the national movement to legalize gay marriage.

"Soon as a couple says, 'I do,' there's 1,324 ways the government protects those families. And as gay people, we don't have the ability to access those things," said Empire State Pride Agenda Member Ross Levi.

"We want recognition and protection of our love just like straight couples have protection for their love," said Marriage Equality NY Board Member Peter Mesh.

Mesh has been with his husband for 15 years, but had to get married in Canada. Now, he and his counterparts hope a changing political climate in Albany, including a Democratically controlled Senate, will allow other gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot a little closer to home.

"Just this week, Malcolm Smith said he didn't think at this point there's enough votes in the Senate to get marriage equality bill passed. I'm still hopeful that there's still time and I think we can change some minds,” Mesh said.

"We're very excited that we have some backing from our governor and we have been in contact with many senators who are behind us. We just have to get more numbers," said gay marriage activist Joann Trinkle.

At this point, those numbers could be what's standing in the way of legalizing gay marriage. Governor Paterson supports it and the Assembly passed it in 2007, so if they hope to get it passed, it looks like activists will be spending lots of time lobbying their senators.