BOSTON — Out-of-state gay couples may be heading for a walk down a Bay State aisle after the Senate yesterday voted to repeal a 1913 law that had effectively banned gay couples in other states from getting married in Massachusetts.

The repeal effort has some bipartisan support from North Shore representatives, who are expected to take up the bill later this week.

"I support it," said state Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, who wants to repeal a law that says couples cannot wed in Massachusetts if their unions would be illegal in their home states.

It is a vestige, some lawmakers said, of when many states barred interracial marriages. The repeal effort has the support of Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, and of Gov. Deval Patrick, whose 18-year-old daughter announced publicly last month she is a lesbian. Patrick, the state's first black governor, said the 95-year-old statute carries a racist taint and needs to be repealed.

"I'm very supportive of repealing the law," said state Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers. "If people are in Massachusetts, they should be treated equally" as far as the law is concerned, he said.

"Who are we to say you are not going to stay here forever or you are going to stay for five minutes," Speliotis said.

"Massachusetts has been a leader on the issue of equal marriage rights," said state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, who also said yesterday the law is outdated and needs to be repealed.

Speliotis said the repeal is symbolic. Gay and lesbian couples who come here to get married from states that prohibit gay marriage would not have their unions recognized at home.

"If a particular state defines marriage as one man and one woman, it doesn't matter what the Massachusetts law says," Speliotis said.

Speliotis also doubted the repeal would open the floodgates to gay marriages here. About 11,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 in favor of same-sex marriage, with Massachusetts being the first state to allow gay marriages in 2004.

Proponents of the law said it prevents gay marriages from spreading to other states, many of which have passed laws or amended their constitutions to bar same-sex marriage.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney invoked the nearly forgotten law after gay marriage went into effect in 2004, warning that repealing the law would make Massachusetts the "Las Vegas of gay marriage."

Keenan, a member of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, would like to see the law wiped off the books because of its apparent origins in racial discrimination.

State Rep. Brad Hill, R-Ipswich, however, said he is undecided.

"I'm still trying to digest the ramifications of this," Hill said. He wondered if the repeal would put other states' laws in peril, but he was uneasy about the law, which was put in place for "discrimination purposes."

"I can't say we should do anything willy-nilly," said Hill. "It frustrates me when bills come before us without the information we need."

"I am more inclined to vote for repeal than not," said House Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, who represents a precinct of Middleton.

Jones said it appears the law is a "vestige" of a time when a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1912 sought to ban interracial marriage. The historical record of why the law was passed is not clear, Jones said.

Jones does not buy the argument that repealing the law would create a rash of litigation from couples who come here for quickie marriages.

Yesterday, Cardinal Sean O'Malley and other Roman Catholic bishops opposed the repeal, saying it would impose the Supreme Judicial Court's definition of marriage on other states.

A new analysis by the state Office of Housing and Economic Development found repealing the law would draw thousands of couples to Massachusetts, boosting the economy by $111 million, creating 330 jobs and generating $5 million in taxes and fees over three years.

State Reps. Mary Grant, D-Beverly, and Joyce Spiliotis, D-Peabody, could not be reached as of 6:15 p.m. yesterday.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.