Once they eliminate all marriage in California, then all the children born there will be bastards.
Once they eliminate all marriage in California, then all the children born there will be bastards.
On the other hand .... Let's go down the "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and render unto God the things that are God's" road.
"Domestic Partnership" deals with the State. It has to do with property rights, inheritance rights, tax policy, alimony and the "when you break up the other one takes half of your stuff" laws. That is Caesar's business.
"Marriage" deals with "holy matrimony" which is a religious issue. That is God's business.
Under such a system, the State establishes "Domestic Partnerships" and the Churches and God establish "Marriage".
A gay couple that gets the State to declare a "Domestic Partnership" for property rights purposes may not be religious and may not have a Church declare them "married". They would have a legal Partnership but not a Marriage.
A straight couple married in a Church would have BOTH a Partnership for legal purposes and a Marriage for religious purposes.
A gay couple that had a legal Partnership and was "married" by a Church that believed in gay marriages would be "married" in the eyes of their Church but "not married" in the eyes of the Churches that do not recognize gay marriage.
Whether a child is born "outside of marriage", depends on the couple's religious agreement before God, not the couple's legal agreement before Caesar.