Following passage Thursday in the House, the Minnesota Senate is expected to debate a gay marriage bill on Monday.

The House debated the measure for roughly 3 hours before approving it with 75 votes, including four votes from previously undeclared Republicans. Fifty-nine House members, including two Democrats, voted against advancing the bill.

The debate comes two years after lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual union. However, in a first, voters rejected the proposal at the ballot box, setting in motion a new push to approve gay nuptials in Minnesota.

Before House members voted, Rep. Karen Clark, a Democrat and the bill's champion in the chamber, thanked her partner of 24 years, Jacqueline, for joining her at the Capitol on such a historic day.

(Related: Minnesota gay marriage: A victory for Rep. Karen Clark.)

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), said voters should be “outraged” over the House vote.

“Minnesota voters should be outraged that they were sold a bill of goods by gay marriage activists last November,” Brown said in a blog post. “Our opponents filled the airwaves and spent millions claiming marriage was under no threat in Minnesota. And yet they lost no time in pushing for the redefinition of marriage as soon as our marriage protection amendment failed, despite new polling that shows a majority of Minnesotans oppose redefining marriage.”

According to a recent survey, 51 percent of Minnesotans support marriage equality, while 47 remain opposed.

Brown added that the House vote should “serve as a wakeup call” for other states.

“If you do not protect marriage proactively in your constitutions, the powerful and wealthy gay marriage lobby will target your state for their next campaign to change your laws,” he said.

The prospects of passage in the Senate appear bright and Democratic Governor Mark Dayton has previously lobbied lawmakers on behalf of the measure.

If the law is approved, it will take effect on August 1, the same day that gay and lesbian couples in Rhode Island can begin marrying.