After openly lesbian Arizona state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema successfully attached a pro-gay rights amendment to a measure intended to ban marriage equality, conservative House Speaker Jim Weiers declared his resolution dead.

The bill would have asked voters to add a ban on gay marriage to the state’s Constitution — a move that failed in 2004. Sinema’s move to add medical visitation, funeral, burial and inheritance rights to same-sex partners to the bill prompted Weiers to state that he wouldn’t bring the amended version of the bill to the House floor.

The Arizona Republic reports:

The move in the House Thursday by opponents to undercut the referendum was engineered by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Phoenix Democrat who led the opposition campaign against the 2006 ballot initiative.

On the floor, she said she believed voters’ rejection of that ballot initiative shows their support for basic legal protections for unmarried families.

“This amendment provides them with the basic legal protection to feel secure about taking care of their loved ones,” Sinema said in introducing her change to the measure.

Republicans who supported the marriage amendment cried foul. They said Sinema’s change was legally problematic. They complained that the move stripped voters of the right to vote on a definition of traditional marriage and domestic-partner rights separately.

…

After the House vote, Sinema denied her amendment was designed to specifically kill the measure, but said it did “exactly what I wanted it to.”

“If this issue is going to go to the ballot, then I think (protections for unmarried couples) should be on the ballot with it,” she said. “While we all know Arizonans have different opinions on same-sex marriage, we know Arizonans support benefits for domestic partners.”

Sinema’s change passed 28 to 27, with five members absent from the floor.

The Victory Fund has endorsed Sinema in her bid for re-election.