ALBANY — A still-smarting Gov. Paterson yesterday threw in the towel on legalizing gay marriage anytime soon, conceding he won’t seek to have the measure voted on next year unless he knows for sure it would be approved.

A day after the controversial proposal backed by the governor was soundly defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate, Paterson told an upstate radio station, “I won’t reintroduce the issue unless I see substantial change. The vote was 38-24. That’s pretty substantial.

“People don’t want to go down on a losing ship.”