To some it may have seemed like a ho-hum affair when the State Legislature on Tuesday finally passed a gay rights bill that was swiftly signed into law by Gov. George Pataki.

After all, 12 other states - beginning with Wisconsin, way back in 1982 - had beaten us to it, including most of our Northeast neighbors. The Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act languished for 31 embarrassing years, not clearing the Democrat-controlled Assembly until 1993, and continually denied a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

But make no mistake: This week marked a watershed moment for both the Republican Party in New York State and the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, locally and nationally. No matter how late it was in coming, the influence that New York wields on the national stage ensures that the law's impact will ripple across the country.

As the story goes, Gov. Pataki, after years of unfulfilled promises, had cut a deal with the Empire State Pride Agenda, the statewide gay lobby. In exchange for the group's endorsement in the election he would get conservative Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who'd thwarted the bill year after year, to bring it to a vote in a special session. In the end, Bruno even voted in favor of the bill and, with Pataki, urged his colleagues to do the same, bringing in enough fellow Republicans to pass the bill by an eight-vote margin.

As Pataki himself has realized in recent years - and has clearly telegraphed to the State Senate - the Republican Party in New York won't maintain the control it has (let alone gain more) if it doesn't continue to moderate on social issues such as gay rights.

Before the bill's passage, a landlord could refuse to rent an apartment to a lesbian couple, as happened to two women in Potsdam. Or a furniture store owner might turn away a couple because they were gay, as occurred in Oneonta. Now gays and lesbians in many cities, towns and suburbs in New York will have protections in employment, housing and accommodations. The law also lays the groundwork for pursuing statewide domestic partnership laws, civil union legislation and even marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Those are contentious, red-hot issues about which conservatives in the Legislature will surely put up a fierce fight - and some of the bill's most vociferous antigay critics in fact argued that gay marriage would be the next step. But the truth is, pushing for marriage rights is the next logical step. In Vermont, civil union laws came about only because gay advocates demanded the legal right to marry and the legislature compromised. Advocates here should do the same.

On the national level, New York's action puts more pressure on legislators whom gay activists are lobbying in states around the country. Of the 12 other states (and the District of Columbia) that have similar laws, California is the only other large, politically and culturally influential state to have passed a gay rights bill. And the fact that New York passed its bill under a Republican governor and Senate is notable, particularly during a conservative time nationally. This law may indeed bring us a bit closer to still-elusive federal gay rights legislation.

An unwitting impact of the law has been to dramatically raise the profile of transgender activists, who fought to have an amendment added to the bill that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of "gender identity" in addition to sexual orientation. In a bitter public squabble among gay rights advocates, State Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), the state's only openly gay senator, had commendably taken up the cause - though far too late, some said, for it to have a chance - proposing a transgender-inclusive amendment, as advocates from the Empire State Pride Agenda furiously charged him with jeopardizing the bill.

Although the losing amendment garnered 19 votes - a decent number - the discussion perhaps educated a few legislators. The near debacle underscored that the law clearly has its limitations. Still, for the gay community, it's the start of something very big.