A bill legalizing civil unions could fail to win the needed votes to pass out of a state Senate committee today, but Senate leaders who favor it say they likely have enough support to bypass the committee.

"I've been told by leadership that there are enough votes to pull the bill — definitely," said state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee. A committee hearing on the bill is scheduled for 9 a.m. today at the state Capitol auditorium.

Despite these assurances, however, there is some uncertainty about the bill's fate. Under state law, the Senate could not bring the bill out of the committee until March 10, which will give opponents another two weeks from today's hearing to mobilize.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 people attended a rally opposing civil unions on Sunday at the state Capitol and lawmakers are receiving thousands of telephone calls and e-mails urging them not to move forward.

Taniguchi said he would prefer for the Senate not to have to take the extraordinary step of sidestepping the committee because it could set a precedent for other bills. But Taniguchi, who supports civil unions, also said he would likely back a recall if necessary.

The bill, which would give same-sex partners who enter into civil unions the same rights as married couples under state law, passed the state House earlier this month on a 33-17 vote with one lawmaker excused. That was one vote shy of a veto-proof supermajority.

Senate leaders, speaking privately because the issue has not been formally discussed in caucus, said yesterday they have more than the nine votes required to bring the bill to the full Senate without the committee's approval. If the bill makes it to the full Senate, the leaders say they have as many as 18 votes for passage, which would be a supermajority that could override a veto.

Gov. Linda Lingle has not taken a position on the bill and typically does not discuss potential vetoes in advance.

Yesterday morning at a news conference at the Capitol, representatives of a variety of religious faiths called on people across Hawai'i to support the bill.

The Rev. Dr. John R. Heidel, president of the Interfaith Alliance Hawai'i, told a gathering of about 75 people that the issue has generated "angry emotion."

"We make this plea for civil discourse, for polite conversations and for encouragement to find resolution to this civil-rights concern," Heidel said.

"This bill is creating division in our community that, from our perspective, is unnecessary," Heidel said. "We see this as a fundamental issue of civil rights. We invite all people to join us in affirming the promise of these values, the importance of all of these values of respect, and faithfulness, honesty, fairness, equality, responsibility, compassion, kindness, justice and love."

The alliance that includes Christian, Jewish and Buddhist faiths believes that basic legal rights granted to married couples also should be given to all couples committed to a loving relationship, Heidel said.

"We want to assure those who oppose civil unions that this bill will not endanger their concept of marriage or family values," he said.

BACK IN 1998

In 1998, nearly 70 percent of Hawai'i voters approved a constitutional amendment giving the state Legislature the power to reserve marriage for heterosexual couples.

At the time, First Unitarian Church of Honolulu sponsored the largest poll of its kind on the question of same-sex marriage, which also found 70 percent opposition to same-sex marriage, said the church's Rev. Mike Young.

But another question that touched on whether gays and lesbians should have the "same rights as everyone else" received support from 67 percent of those polled, he said.

"That's what we're here about today," Young said. "That piece that was left out. ... Outside of very conservative religious communities, the support is there in the state."

The 1998 constitutional amendment negated a 1993 state Supreme Court ruling that found refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples was discriminatory.

Since 1998, the Legislature has considered civil unions several times, most recently in 2007, but the bills never made it out of committee.

The Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee is split 3-3 on the bill: Taniguchi, state Sen. Dwight Takamine, D-1st (Hamakua, S. Hilo), and state Sen. Clarence Nishihara, D-18th (Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City), are in favor; state Sen. Mike Gabbard, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele), state Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), and state Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), are opposed.

Nishihara said he doubts there is room among supporters and opponents in the community to compromise. Supporters, for example, do not want expanded rights for same-sex partners that fall short of civil unions, and many eventually want full marriage equality. Many opponents have already equated civil unions with marriage.

"There is no real discussion or compromise in their minds," he said.