The Hawaii Senate rejected an effort Wednesday to force a vote on same-sex civil unions, essentially killing the measure, even though a majority had indicated it supports the unions.

The vote on the legislative maneuver fell three short of the nine required for a full Senate vote. About 18 of the 25 senators had indicated they support civil unions, but they lacked the political willpower to go against Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and most of her leadership team, which opposed the effort.

Hanabusa has supported civil unions but said she didn’t want to override the normal lawmaking process by lifting the bill from its committee, where it had stalled on a tie vote.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Taniguchi said there was still hope that the bill could be amended and revived, but that probably wouldn’t happen until next year.

Dennis Arakaki, executive director of the Hawaii Family Forum, applauded the result.

“It affirms the will of the people,” he said. “Senators realized the impact of this issue. They may have been looking for rationale of how they could either avoid the issue or put it to bed.”

Opponents had argued that same-sex civil unions were the same as gay marriage.

Only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, allow gay marriage. The Vermont Senate passed a gay marriage bill last week, but Republican Gov. Jim Douglas said Wednesday he would veto it if it lands on his desk.

Nearly 70 percent of Hawaii voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 granting the state Legislature the power to reserve marriage for couples of one man and one woman, which it did.