Is the Latest LGBT Controversy with Dolce and Gabbana a Step Backward?

Published on Wednesday March 18th, 2015 by WCS

LGBT issues have been front and center in the news for quite some time. Gay parenting and LGBT family building often leading the controversial pack raising eyebrows on all platforms. However, the latest controversy stemming from Dulce and Gabbana's founders criticizing same-sex adoptions and family building via artificial insemination (AI) or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are spurring more than a raised eyebrow.

Matteo Prandoni/BFAnyc/Sipa USA via Newscom & The Daily Beast


Tim Teeman, writer for The Daily Beast chimed in with an article titled: "Boycott Dolce and Gabbana: Gays Can Be Hypocritical, Prejudiced Dumbasses, Too!"

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, once a couple themselves, openly condemned IVF, stating that it leads to "synthetic" children and that gay people shouldn't be parents." How does Stefano Gabbana explain that just nine years ago (2006) he sung a different tune when he openly stated he wished to have a child via artificial insemination, exactly the same method he now unfairly criticizes as the choice of other gay parents.

The latest remarks by the fashion icon pair made the cover story in the March 12th edition of the Italian magazine Panorama. The interview, titled "Long-Live the [Traditional] Family" predictably set the Internet ablaze with outrage!

In the cover story interview, Dolce and Gabbana spoke of the "classical" family calling children conceived through IVF using a surrogate mother "chemical children in a rented uterus." The billionaire fashion designers came out publicly against the use of surrogate mothers, and claimed children need "a mother and a father."

The fallout reaction was immediate and fierce by Elton John, who recently married his longtime partner and co-parent to their two children, David Furnish. Elton John lashed out calling for a boycott of Dolce & Gabbana's world renowned fashion brand.

Will Elton John's boycott lead the fashion world down the same path? Only time will tell. What I can with some degree of certainty say is "This won't die down any time soon".

We welcome your comments on this issue, and would especially love to hear from the LGBT parenting community!