Topeka ? While she still questioned amending the Kansas Constitution to ban gay marriage, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that legislators should move quickly if they want to consider the idea.

“Frankly, if they’re going to do it, I’d just as soon them move it so that it really is not a blockade to some work that they have to do,” she said during an interview.

Seventeen senators introduced a proposed amendment Tuesday. The measure would not only ban same-sex marriage but prohibit the state from recognizing civil unions or extending benefits associated with marriage to other relationships.

The proposal mirrors one the Senate approved but the House rejected last year. Its sponsors want to put the amendment on the ballot April 5, when Kansas holds city and school board elections.

Republican leaders plan to have the Senate vote Thursday. Both legislative chambers must adopt the measure by two-thirds majorities by Feb. 11 for it to go on the April ballot, where approval by a simple majority of voters would add it to the constitution.

Kansas law already defines marriage only as a union between one man and one woman, something Sebelius noted.

“There is no challenge to it, so I have always suggested that we don’t need a constitutional amendment and particularly a constitutional amendment that would go beyond the codification of the law,” she said.

But supporters believe amending the constitution will protect the definition of marriage from a legal challenge. They also argue that traditional marriages form strong families and the basis for society.

Last year, voters in 13 other states, including Missouri, amended their constitutions.

“It’s a shame she doesn’t realize how important this is to the people of Kansas,” said the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor at Wichita’s Central Christian Church, who advocates the amendment. “It sounds like she has pretty much accepted the fact that this will go through.”

Some critics view the amendment as discrimination against gays and lesbians and believe it could prevent even private companies from providing health, pension or other benefits to any unmarried couples.

Steve Brown, of Prairie Village, the president of the Kansas Democratic Party’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Caucus, was disappointed by Sebelius’ remarks.

“The attitude is getting to be, ‘Let’s just do it and get rid of it, without thinking about what it means,”‘ he said. “It’s a dangerous attitude.”