Dolce & Gabbana Face Outrage After Controversial Comments About Gay Families

In an interview with the Italian magazine Panorama, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana had some contentious things to say about same-sex families.

According to translations, the pair -- who dated for 23 years and broke up in 2005 -- stated that children born through IVF are "children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteruses for rent, semen chosen from a catalog."

“I am gay, I cannot have a child. I guess you cannot have everything in life," Dolce added. "Life has a natural course, some things cannot be changed. One is the family.”

Their comments sparked quite a bit of controversy. Sir Elton John, who has two children via a surrogate and married longtime partner David Furnish in December, responded to the designers' comments on Instagram.

How dare you refer to my beautiful children as "synthetic". And shame on you for wagging your judgemental 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

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Mar 14, 2015 at 10:29pm PDT

Elton John isn't the only celebrity who has expressed outrage over Dolce and Gabbana's comments. Well-known celebrity chef Art Smith is planning a protest party that's he's calling "Take The Hate Off The Runway."



"As a gay married couple with four gorgeous children, my husband Jesus Salgueiro and I join families across the world -- gay and straight -- in protest against these hateful, ugly, loveless comments by Dolce and Gabbana," he told The Huffington Post. "Behind the beauty was always ugly. As Dr. Maya Angelou said, 'When people show you who they are, believe them.'"

Elton John's #BoycottDolceGabbana hashtag has also taken off on Twitter as people express their disgust over the designers' words.

.@dolcegabbana ur voices R 2powerfull 2B spreading so much h8 http://t.co/30Oe2hcxNt Wake up,Its 2015 Luv urselves guys #boycottdolcegabbana

— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) March 15, 2015

Oh bugger, there go my sunglasses... #BoycottDolceGabbana

— Val McDermid (@valmcdermid) March 15, 2015

IVF babies are synthetic? I don't think I've heard anything so disrespectful and insulting. Disgusting behaviour! #BoycottDolceGabbana

— Kaeyi Dream ♡ (@KaeyiDream) March 15, 2015

Dolce & Gabbana's rep did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment.

H/T The Telegraph