#BoycottDolceGabbana: D & G Back Pedal, “We Do Believe In Freedom & Love”, While LGBT Groups Back Boycott

A 2009 D & G ad featuring what could be seen as a gay couple with a “synthetic” gaybee…?

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, under growing social media pressure, issued a statement yesterday saying their comments in an interview with Italian magazine Panorama were taken the wrong way:

“…it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love.”

Dolce says he was expressing his view about family based on his own experience growing up in a traditional Sicilian family …

“made up of a mother, a father and children. I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I’ve known.” Dolce said he was expressing his personal views “without judging other people’s choices.”

Elton John expressed his offense at the duos skepticism about the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogate mothers to create families. The musician’s two children were conceived by in vitro fertilization. Ricky Martin, who is gay and the father of twins born by a surrogate mother, called on the pair to “wake up” in a message on Twitter, admonishing the designers that their voices were too powerful to spread hate.

Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell said he was also supporting a D&G boycott. He told the Guardian:

“It’s quite outrageous that two gay fashion designers who have relied on the gay community for much of their success are opposing gay equality. They’re lining up with the Pope and the far right in their support for legal discrimination. If they don’t want to be parents that’s fine, but it’s deeply insulting to disparage the many same sex parents who have brought up children happily and successfully.”

Ruth Hunt, the chief executive of the LGBT equality group Stonewall, said:

“We strongly dispute the comments made by Dolce and Gabbana. Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation or whether a child has two mums or two dads. The important thing is a loving family, whatever it’s make up.”

The “traditional family” was the center piece of their latest campaign, “Viva la Mamma“. The #DGfamily social media campaign encourages people to publish their family photos online with the hashtag…

“We tried to give the idea of the clan, of the strength of the union. My mother always implored me and my brothers to stay united.”

This seems to have been replaced by a hashtag they think is facist #boycottDolceGabbana. I don’t buy the backtracking, that they are doing now. I think they really meant what they’ve been saying for years, and now are trying to take it back for business reasons. Here’s a new hashtag for you: #goodluckwiththat.