ELTON CALLS FOR BOYCOTT
Designers’ views on IVF ignite furor
Elton John has called for a boycott of fashion label Dolce & Gabbana, prompting a war of words with the leading designers, after they criticized same-sex families.
In a scathing post on the photograph-sharing site Instagram, the furious singer branded Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana “judgmental” and “archaic.”
It followed an interview the designers gave to an Italian magazine in which they said: “We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one.
“No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.”
Dolce said that procreation “must be an act of love,” adding: “You are born to a mother and a father — or at least that’s how it should be.
“I call children of chemistry ‘synthetic children’. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalogue.”
Gabbana said: “The family is not a fad. In it there is a supernatural sense of belonging.”
The pair, who founded Dolce & Gabbana, were a couple for 23 years, before breaking up in 2005.
John, who in December married Toronto-born filmmaker David Furnish, his long-term civil partner, and has two sons born to a surrogate mother, wrote in response to their comments: “How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’?
“And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF — a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.
“Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.”
The fight deepened when Gabbana, in an apparent response to John’s criticism, posted a picture on Instagram of a child with its arms wrapped around its mother with the hashtags #dgmamma #dgfamily.
When a friend suggested John needed to “calm down,” the designer agreed, and accused the singer of being intolerant.
He added: “We live in a democratic country and respect the ideas of others.”
Courtney Love, the singer, also waded into the fight by disclosing on her Facebook page that she wanted to round up all her Dolce & Gabbana items and burn them.
“I’m just beyond words and emotions,” she wrote. “Boycott senseless bigotry.”
Despite his controversial views, Gabbana disclosed in 2006 that he had asked a female friend to be a surrogate mother for his child.
The designer told an Italian newspaper: “I want my own child, a biological child conceived through artificial insemination.”
He said he had asked his friend, who was 12 years younger, to help, and said she “thought it was a great idea.”
The comments were made the year after he split up with Dolce, and after he had embarked on a new relationship.
The two designers remained close friends after splitting up, and, in the wake of their separation, were living in the same Milan apartment block, albeit on different floors.
But Gabbana said he did not want his child to have two gay parents, adding: “I am opposed to the idea of a child growing up with two gay parents.
“A child needs a mother and a father. I could not imagine my childhood without my mother. I also believe that it is cruel to take a baby away from its mother.”