PHOENIX (AP) – An Arizona legislator’s ethics complaint accuses a fellow senator of disregarding Senate rules by conspiring to cut off debate to help speed a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.

The complaint filed July 21 by Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, asks for a reprimand of Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, for violating a rule on conduct of debate.

Harper was acting as Senate chair during a debate session the evening of June 27 – the final day of the legislative session – when he cut off what amounted to a filibuster against the proposal to put a same-sex marriage ban on the ballot.

Cheuvront says Harper acted improperly by stifling debate when he was obligated by the rules to protect the Senate’s processes.

Legislators expect citizens to comply with the state’s laws, Cheuvront’s complaint stated. “I believe that we must hold ourselves to an even higher ethical standard,” Cheuvront said.

Harper did not immediately return a call for comment from The Associated Press.

However, he told the Arizona Capitol Times in an online story that comments by Cheuvront and Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, were “dilatory” and that they had no right to retain the floor. He also said Cheuvront’s complaint “appears to be choreographed” with efforts by a group of gay activists to target him for election defeat.

Harper’s move to cut off debate by giving the floor to Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, put the Senate in an uproar for about a half-hour as Democrats and some Republicans complained.

Aboud and Cheuvront, the Senate’s two openly gay members, were trying to postpone or even prevent the vote on the marriage amendment.

Approached by The Associated Press after the June 27 floor session, Harper declined to say whether his direction to Aboud to turn off her microphone was intended to shut down debate on the other bills in order to accelerate a vote on the marriage resolution.

His move left Aboud and other opponents of the resolution fuming, and they and even some supporters of the resolution said the handling of the matter could poison relations in the chamber when lawmakers return for their next session.

The marriage measure, which the Senate approved, is going on the November ballot. If passed by voters, it would amend the Arizona Constitution.

Voters rejected a version with additional wording in 2006.

The state already has a law that was enacted in 1996. It was upheld in 2003 by a state appellate court that defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman.