On the heels of the recent California Supreme Court ruling that upheld Proposition 8's prohibition against same-sex marriage, conservative groups began collecting signatures for a ballot referendum to block a new Washington law that substantially expands the rights for domestic partners. The law Gov. Christine Gregoire signed in May has been dubbed the 'everything but marriage' bill. It expanded on previous domestic-partnership laws to include issues such as adoption, child support, pensions and other public-employee benefits. California, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia all have laws offering same-sex couples substantial partnership rights. A handful of states, most recently New Hampshire, have granted gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. As Washington's secretary of state approved the referendum petitions Friday, and signature collections began over the weekend, some conservatives expressed concern that widespread public support for domestic-partnership rights and preoccupation with economic problems could doom the effort -- and make it harder to battle same-sex marriage down the road. 'My concern is, in running a referendum, you're not really going to win,' said the Rev. Joe Fuiten, founder of Positive Christian Agenda. 'All you accomplish is, you divide up the community and really alienate a lot of people from the church and from the gospel.' Fuiten recently circulated an e-mail asking Christian conservatives to consider the possible downside of becoming involved in a same-sex marriage fight when polls show that most Washingtonians favor broad equal rights for domestic partners -- although they may feel differently about gay marriage. A poll in October by the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity & Race at the University of Washington showed that 21 percent of those surveyed said there should be no legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, while 37 percent supported same-sex marriage. 'I don't have any interest in being another General Custer. I also know that when Israel decided to enter the Promised Land without God's blessing, they were soundly defeated,' Fuiten said in his e-mail. Yet referendum backers, who have until July 25 to gather 120,577 signatures to put the measure on the November ballot, argue public momentum is on their side. 'It's the last incremental step to gay marriage for gay activists,' said Gary Randall of the Faith & Freedom Network, who is helping coordinate the signature campaign. 'We're not trying to take anything from anyone. We're simply trying to defend and keep marriage as it has always been throughout all of human history.' Larry Stickney of Washington Values, who also is backing the referendum, said he told Fuiten that the recession could help defeat the law because more people were turning to religion after losing their jobs. He also predicted that passage of a federal hate-crimes law this year potentially could introduce legal roadblocks to campaigning against same-sex partnerships. 'We may be running out of time to address this issue without fear of jail time,' he said. Still, advocates of expanded gay partnership rights aren't taking anything for granted. 'We're taking this threat very, very seriously,' said Josh Friedes, campaign manager for Washington Families Standing Together, which has gathered support from labor unions, religious communities, immigration and civil-rights groups. 'We're in this incredible economic crisis in the state of Washington, we're seeing unbelievable cuts to social services, and it's pretty shocking that during this downturn we would see organizations who are making it their priority taking away rights from families, and who are going to be forcing people to spend millions of dollars on a campaign to preserve their rights,' Friedes said. A 'Decline to Sign' campaignalready has garnered support from 30,000 Washington residents. Taking a chapter from tactical playbooks in California and Oregon, some opponents of the anti-gay-rights effort in Washington also have launched a Web site, on which they have vowed to publicize the names of those who sign petitions calling for the referendum. Friedes said mainstream gay-rights groups opposing the referendum had no connection to the 'who signed' Web site, adding that it could do the campaign more harm than good. 'Our goal is to ... create a civil discourse that focuses on meeting the needs of Washington families,' he said. 'And instead, I think what we're seeing is ... a very small set of people on both sides of the issues who are yelling at each other.' 