At a midtown Manhattan gay bar called Therapy, Lynn Nunes mingled with about 50 supporters at the kickoff fundraiser for his primary challenge against State Sen. Shirley Huntley.

In a speech before the crowd, Nunes promised that with their support, Huntley would go the way of George Onorato and Hiram Monserrate, two other Queens senators who voted against the same-sex marriage bill last year and will not be back in 2011. (Onorato is retiring, Monserrate was expelled and lost his special election bid to return to the Senate).

“We’re here to send Shirley Huntley home, and every other senator who won’t vote for marriage equality,” Nunes said.

Backers of same-sex marriage may give the 25-year-old Nunes a legitimate chance in his battle to knock off an incumbent: he is a prime candidate to get financial support from the pro-same-sex marriage PAC Fight Back New York, although no final determinations on strategy for this year’s races have been made, according to a spokesman for the group.

Nunes already demonstrated some political viability last year, running an entirely grassroots, volunteer-based campaign to come within four votes of knocking off 14-year New York City Council Member Tom White, who most observers say has higher name recognition than the two-term incumbent Huntley. Danny Dromm, an openly gay Council member from Queens and a prominent leader in the gay rights movement, said he became convinced Nunes would be viable during a February phone call in which Nunes described his strategy for unseating Huntley.

“Lynn is a statistician in terms of numbers,” Dromm said. “That’s something he gets almost innately.”

Huntley’s supporters, though, are already pegging Nunes as an opportunist backed by a pro-same-sex marriage lobby that is out of step with the majority of the district.

“I think Lynn Nunes is going down the wrong road,” said Council Member Leroy Comrie, a Huntley ally. “He is taking advantage of a singular opportunity presented by something that is not a big deal in that district.”

In the southeast Queens district where Nunes will spend his summer knocking on doors, the streets of Jamaica and Springfield Gardens are lined with socially conservative black churches. The same-sex marriage bill was unpopular among the African-American churches and clergy, and Huntley cites this opposition as the reason she voted against the bill.

Nunes says he would instead run on issues such as the district’s highest-in-the-country foreclosure rate, which he says Huntley has not done enough to address, and the district’s overcrowded classrooms.

As for the charges of opportunism, Nunes notes that he has long been a supporter of same-sex marriage, even filling out a candidate survey expressing his support for the cause and seeking the endorsement of the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens during his Council campaign.

“I was a supporter of gay marriage even when it wasn’t going to help me,” Nunes said.

Charter-school advocates are also expected to provide funding to Nunes, one of a number of candidates running against anti-charter incumbents set to receive backing from the lobby. Nunes said he has been a committed and unabashed supporter of lifting the state’s charter school cap, though he did not discuss the issue much while running for the Council. He said he was silent on the issue because charter schools are more a state concern than a city one.

Huntley, meanwhile, finds herself in a more precarious position when it comes to the education lobbies. A former local school board president, Huntley has been an ally of the United Federation of Teachers and, along with State Sen. Bill Perkins, was the catalyst behind an April hearing calling out charter schools for alleged abuses. She also opposed legislation to lift the state’s charter-school cap in January. But Huntley switched courses and voted in favor of lifting the cap in the bill that was passed by the Senate in early May.

Leaders of the New York State United Teachers—the UFT’s parent union—have said they will have trouble supporting anyone who voted to raise the cap. Still, Huntley said she believes one vote will not endanger their longstanding relationship.

“I have been generous in my support of the UFT’s issues over the years,” Huntley said.

Spokesmen for the UFT and NYSUT declined comment on the union’s plans in the district.

But speaking generally about his union’s involvement in this year’s races, UFT president Michael Mulgrew said a vote to raise the cap would not necessarily stand in the way of an endorsement by the teachers.

“I’ll let the political process take its course,” Mulgrew said. “I like to talk to people first and find out what their reasons are. If they decide they don’t want to work with us anymore, then we’ll go from there.”

As with her same-sex marriage vote, Huntley said she decided to support the charter cap bill after getting feedback from her constituents and learning about the success of charter schools in her district. Huntley is also counting on strong political support this year from Senate Democratic conference leader John Sampson, who championed lifting the charter-school cap.

Huntley has represented the Senate district since a successful 2006 primary challenge to Ada Smith, who had a string of brushes with the law, including a misdemeanor conviction from throwing a cup of coffee on a staffer. Huntley retains the strong support of Senate President Malcolm Smith, Rep. Greg Meeks and other local African-American officials, though investigations into the Aqueduct Racino deal and member items given to the non-profit New Direction have created political unrest in the area, where other primary challengers are emerging. As in the past, Huntley’s husband, Herbert, will be running her campaign. Huntley said she does not know much about Nunes or what involvement he has had in the community.

“People have a right to run,” Huntley said. “This is America.”

White’s entire Council district—in which Nunes placed first or second in 90 percent of the electoral districts—is in Huntley’s Senate district, providing an existing base from which to run. Nunes is expected to be strongest in Richmond Hill, where there is a sizable Guyanese and West Indian population. He will also try to tap into votes from the concentrated LGBT population in Forest Hills. White’s Council district was 70 percent African-American, while Huntley’s is only 58 percent.

Nunes, though, said that he would focus his campaign on door-knocking and direct contact with voters all over the district, noting that he had performed well in a number of primarily African-American districts in the race against White and two other black candidates.

After coming up four votes short last year, Nunes said he would leave no stone unturned this time.

“Winner takes all, loser takes nothing,” Nunes said. “I learned that the hard way.”

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above right, photo by Andrew Schwartz