The New York State Senate is expected to vote on Governor Cuomo’s same-sex marriage equality bill as early as Monday, optimists believe, though a vote, if indeed it takes place, could be delayed to as late as Wednesday. New York’s same-sex marriage equality battle — now just one vote shy of passage — raged on a playing field last week of so-called religious exemptions, or, as some would call it, discrimination written directly into the bill. But reports now suggest Senate staffers spent the weekend negotiating language that would appease both religious leaders and LGBT activists.

“Negotiators for the Republican-run Senate privately admitted that a deal is near after aides spent the Father’s Day weekend ironing out language to appease ‘religious liberty’ concerns that have been raised by several fence-sitting GOP senators,” Monday’s New York Post reports.

The Albany Times-Union quotes Senate Deputy Minority Leader Neil Breslin (D) saying,”I think it’s the typical end of the session, but in this situation there are more important items to resolve. I believe marriage equality will be resolved…”

To try to avoid a positive resolution, today, “Gay marriage opponents – including Giant David Tyree – will hold a press conference/deliver 63,000 petitions outside the Senate GOP conference room at 1 p.m.,” Liz Benjamin reports this morning.

But even our staunchest opponents who have real power (not just a dried-up football career and lack of understanding of the definition of “anarchy,”) like NY State Senator Greg Ball, have shown, after saying, “no,” they are open to suggestion and debate.

The conservative Republican who has been most-vocal on religious exemptions,over the weekend, via Twitter, asked folks to tweet him their opinion on how he should vote. Tens of thousands (at least) responded, and by looking at the responses, 99% are “yes.” Ball cannot possibly vote no now, can he?

LGBT activists held pro-marriage equality rallies over the weekend throughout the state, including two in Manhattan.

HRC adds, “On Sunday, members of the faith community all across the Empire State gathered to show their strong support for full marriage rights for all New Yorkers.  Parishioners throughout the state, including Rochester, Buffalo, the Capital Region, Long Island, and Staten Island, came together this Father’s Day after Sunday services in solidarity for marriage for all loving New York couples.”

While many religious groups have come out in active support of same-sex marriage equality, New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz has been aggressively and viciously attacking the LGBT community.

“Supporters of New York Hispanic Clergy Organization gathered outside the office of Bronx Sen. Ruben Diaz to protest the gay marriage legislation and affirm their strong support for Diaz, the only Democrat state senator who will vote no on the bill. The Rev. Diaz, who is a Pentecostal minister, is the president of the Christian Hispanic group,” the Christian Post writes.

The man who holds the power to call an up-or-down vote on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s marriage equality bill, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, isn’t budging. “There is a concern right now as to the unintended consequences of some of the religious clauses, carve-outs, protections, and we’re reviewing that,” Skelos said Friday.

The “concern” comes mainly from the Archbishop Tim Dolan and his separation-of-church-and-state-flouting Catholic Conference.

Meanwhile, Capital Tonight reports,a “group of more than 700 faith leaders across New York who support same-sex marriage are speaking out in response to the criticism of the language in the Governor’s same-sex marriage bill,” saying it offers enough protections, and that opponents are “using religion a smokescreen to hide their intolerance.”

While one media outlet is calling Governor Andrew Cuomo “the new face of gay marriage rights,” Archbishop Tim Dolan — the man who literally tried to pray away the gay marriage bill in church on Sunday — has become the face of hate and hubris. New York Times’ op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd is calling New York Archbishop “ferocious.”

“The archbishop has been ferocious in fighting against marriage between same-sex couples, painting it as a perversity against nature,” Dowd writes, adding, “If only his church had been as ferocious in fighting against the true perversity against nature: the unending horror of pedophile priests and the children who trusted them.”

Further, Dowd quotes Dolan saying, “And, what about other rights, like that of a child to be raised in a family with a mom and a dad?” To which Dowd asks, “And how about the right of a child not to be molested by the parish priest?”

“Dolan acts like getting married (when done by gays) is a self-indulgent act of hedonism when it’s really a leap of faith and a promise of fidelity,” she writes.

Exactly.

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent calls this the “most important thing to watch today,” and writes, “The larger story is striking… If New York takes this step today — which would make it the largest state thus far to do so — it will reinforce the sense that the national outcome of this decades-long civil-rights battle, which has produced a truly astonishing shift in public attitudes, is inevitable.”

If the marriage equality bill passes, licenses will be available 30 days later.

Cautious optimism with a touch of last-minute not-taking-anything-for-granted is the forecast for today.

(Image: Civil rights attorney Yetta Kurland speaking to hundreds of marriage equality supporters Sunday.)