The Associated Press, reporting out of Albany, NY:

Just a couple of weeks ago, the momentum to legalize gay marriage in New York appeared to be an irresistible force, teed up to reinvigorate the flagging national effort.

... Since then, the conservative and religious opposition has struck back in a big, unexpected way.

Now the opposition has a $1.5 million fund of its own from a national group [i.e. NOM]. There was even some shakiness in the ranks of gay marriage advocates, while Republican senators on the other side, rather than wilting, appear emboldened. A new "defense of marriage" bill has been introduced that wouldn't recognize gay marriages sealed in other states.

Opponents of gay marriage are also bolstered by defeats of similar bills this year in Maryland and Rhode Island. Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., a list unchanged since New York's Senate rejected the measure in 2009 in a surprising blow to the national movement.