WASHINGTON (AP) -- After Senate Republicans blocked an effort to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military, Majority Leader Harry Reid says he plans to bring the issue up again in a lame-duck session after the November congressional elections.

GOP Senators were joined by two Democrats, Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, in voting against advancing a major defense spending bill that included the provision repealing the 17-year-old law known as "don't ask, don't tell."

If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming elections, as many expect, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult next year.

The latest failure has upset advocates who say neither President Barack Obama nor Reid did enough to get the measure passed. Clinton administration gay rights adviser Richard Socarides (soh-KEHR'-ih-dees) calls the episode "a political train wreck."
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