WASHINGTON  The Senate on Tuesday voted against taking up a major military bill that would allow the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, disappointing advocates of allowing gay Americans to serve openly in the armed forces but leaving open the likelihood of another vote later this year.

The outcome, at a time when Congress is increasingly paralyzed by the partisan fury of the midterm elections, was more a result of a dispute between Democrats and Republicans over legislative process than a straightforward referendum on whether to allow gay, lesbian and bisexual soldiers to serve openly.

President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have all said they favor repealing the 17-year-old policy. And the House has already approved legislation that would allow the Pentagon to rescind it, while the legal fight is advancing in the federal courts.

But Senate Republicans voted unanimously to block debate on the bill, the annual authorization of military programs, after the majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he would attach a number of the Democrats’ election-year priorities to it while also moving to limit the amendments offered by Republicans.