Introduced by his niece, Rachel Tiven, who is gay, Mr. Bloomberg spoke in personal terms about why he is an advocate for gay marriage, declaring that he sees the "pain the status quo causes.""When I meet a New Yorker who is gay, when I speak with…family members and members of my staff who are gay, or when I look into the eyes of my niece, Rachel, I cannot tell them that their government is correct in denying them the right to marry," he said.

 

"I can't tell them that marriage is not for them. I can't tell them that a civil union is good enough," he said. "In our democracy, near equality is no equality. Government either treats everyone the same, or it doesn't. And right now it doesn't."

 

Glaringly absent from the speech was any mention of how Mr. Bloomberg wavered on this issue for years before taking a firm stand as he prepared to run for re-election in 2005. During his first campaign for mayor and most of his first four-year term at City Hall, Mr. Bloomberg consistently ducked questions about gay marriage.

 

In recent years, the mayor has sought to position himself as a strong voice in the campaign for gay marriage. For example, he traveled to Albany earlier this month to lobby state lawmakers on the issue. In 2009, the Senate rejected a bill that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry by a vote of 38 to 24. The state Assembly has consistently backed gay marriage, and the issue has the support of both former Gov. David Paterson and his successor, Andrew Cuomo.

 

In his speech, Mr. Bloomberg said state lawmakers have a clear choice: "Do you want to be remembered as a leader on civil rights? Or an obstructionist?"

 

"On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly," the mayor said. "Not on abolition. Not on abortion. Not on women's suffrage. Not on workers' rights. Not on civil rights. And it will be no different on marriage rights."

 

When the mayor's niece introduced her uncle, she said the mayor does not "agonize" about "defending these rights.""It's not hard for him to come to these positions," said Ms. Tiven, who heads a national organization supporting equal immigration rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive community. "These issues are very clear to him and uncomplicated."

 

But the mayor, who is 69 years old, has acknowledged that he agonized about the issue for years. "I've gone back and forth," Mr. Bloomberg said in a TV interview in March 2004.

 

That month, the mayor ignited a firestorm when he voiced support for gay marriage at a private, $1,000-a-plate benefit dinner for a lesbian and gay group, only to retract the comment publicly a day later. His chief spokesman, Ed Skyler, then said the mayor does not have a "clear opinion on the issue."

 

At the time, Christine Quinn, who is openly gay and had not yet become council speaker, lashed out, saying, "Telling a group of gay people that you support gay marriage and then denying it in front of the whole city is worse than not taking a position at all. It's political pandering at its absolute worst."

 

A year later, as Mr. Bloomberg prepared to run for re-election, he unequivocally offered personal support for gay marriage. But he infuriated gay-rights advocates when he said the city would appeal a state court judge's ruling that paved the way for gay marriage. The ruling was ultimately overturned.

 

State Senator Tom Duane, a Manhattan Democrat and the chamber's first openly gay and openly HIV-positive member, said Mr. Bloomberg is one of "many, many people who have evolved over time, and that's what we actually want to see happen." Mr. Bloomberg's aides didn't respond to an inquiry about why the mayor chose not discuss his evolution during his speech.

 

Still, Mr. Duane said the "more distressing, unspoken, unaddressed" issue in the mayor's speech is that the "Republicans are in the [Senate] majority in no small part because of Mayor Bloomberg, who is one of their biggest funders."

 

Mr. Bloomberg has said recently he will be looking to lend financial support to candidates who support gay marriage. Brian Ellner, who is heading a campaign for gay marriage, said the mayor's history on this issue doesn't "complicate what he said today." Last year, Mr. Ellner withdrew his candidacy for executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay group, in part because of controversy surrounding his support for the mayor. "The mayor's message today is going to move a lot of people across this nation," Mr. Ellner said. "It's time to get it done."