HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Senate indefinitely tabled a measure earlier this week that would amend Pennsylvania’s Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

The bill had been scheduled for a floor vote Tuesday, but chief sponsor Sen. Michael Brubaker told colleagues that it would be set aside because it faced long odds in the House.

“It has become apparent that, as the issue stands today, Senate Bill 1250 will not move in the House,” said Brubaker, R-Lancaster.

The bill, had it passed the Senate, was slated to be sent to the State Government Committee, which is headed by Rep. Babette Josephs, a Philadelphia Democrat who opposes the measure.

Because of that, the Senate’s Republican leaders had no assurance that the bill would get a vote in the House at least 90 days before the November general election, the constitutional deadline to keep it alive, Brubaker said.

But Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, D-Philadelphia, a vocal opponent of the measure, told reporters that Senate Republican leaders used House opposition as an excuse to table the bill. Fumo said a majority of senators would have supported a floor amendment to strip out wording to ban civil unions, which supporters considered crucial.

“A win is a win,” Fumo said. “It can look ugly, it can look great. But this is definitely a win.”

Brubaker declined comment on Fumo’s assertions, but said the measure had been approved by the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations committees. Josephs did not respond to a telephone message left at her Harrisburg office and an e-mail Tuesday evening.

Pennsylvania law already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. But proponents of the amendment said writing the ban into the constitution would prevent a judge from overturning the law or opening the door to civil unions between gays and lesbians.

Opponents said the measure would enshrine discrimination into the constitution and could harm efforts by unmarried couples to adopt children and share employer-offered health care benefits.

The bill can still get a Senate vote if the chamber’s Republican leaders secure a commitment from the House to consider the bill within the time necessary to move along the multiyear process to amend the Constitution, Brubaker said.

Approval by the Senate would be the first step in that process. To amend the constitution, the measure must gain approval from both the House and Senate in two consecutive two-year sessions before it can go to voters for final approval in a statewide referendum.

The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to say, “No union other than a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage or the functional equivalent of marriage by the Commonwealth.”