Hawaii’s House of Representatives voted to shelve indefinitely a civil unions bill that would give homosexual couples all the rights of marriage, barely a week after the state Senate approved similar legislation.

A voice vote taken late in January renders the civil unions bill a dead letter unless two-thirds of the Democratic-controlled House vote to bring the legislation back on their agenda for the rest of the year – a move considered highly unlikely due to election year worries and pressure from pro-family conservatives.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports that although a majority of representatives were prepared to pass the bill, legislators were unwilling to risk any political consequences in the event of a veto from Republican governor Linda Lingle.

The legislation had passed by a veto-proof majority in the Senate, but supporters in the House could only muster a simple majority with state reps feeling the political pressure of pro-family conservatives and an upcoming election. Rather than risk a veto on a controversial issue, legislators nixed the bill without debate or a roll call, thus keeping the vote off the record.

The move infuriated homosexual activists in the statehouse gallery, who shouted “shame,” while social conservatives cheered.

House Democratic leaders said they were chiefly worried that November might lead to key losses if they lost pro-family voters. Members were feeling the political heat from that bloc: pro-family conservatives had held three separate rallies at the state Capitol to show their opposition to same-sex “marriage,” many of them wearing “iVote” pins.

Hawaii’s vote represents the latest political blow for pro-same-sex “marriage” advocates who, despite having a well-funded lobby, have been unable to overcome pro-family voters in traditionally liberal states such as Maine, New York, and New Jersey.