Dolce & Gabbana Bal Harbour (Credit: Phillip Pessar, via Wikimedia Commons).
Is a very late apology better than none at all? That appears to be the question when it comes to how the LGBT community will respond to the latest from Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have taken advantage of an interview with Voguemagazine to apologize for controversial comments the pair made in an interview with Italian magazine Panorama in March about their opposition to gay adoptions and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Dolce had previously referred to children born via IVF as “synthetic children,” sparking outrage from a number of celebrities, including singer Elton John, who had two children born via IVF with his husband, David Furnish. Dolce & Gabbana’s comments John to call for a boycott of the fashion line, and other activists to hold demonstrations outside their stores.
In the Vogue interview, Dolce adopts a somewhat conciliatory tone, telling writer Sarah Mower he understands how much his comments hurt people.
“I’ve done some soul-searching,” he says. “I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize. They are just kids.”
Dolce also says he doesn’t know everything about IVF, but acknowledges that people should choose for themselves how to shape their families, saying “I love it when people are happy.”
But Dolce also says that choices available to other gay men and women are not an option for him personally, citing his devout Catholicism.
In that same interview, Gabbana also shares that he previously considered becoming a father, but was stymied because of Italy’s prohibition on both same-sex marriage and single-parent adoption, as well as Italy’s cumbersome rules governing adoption from other countries.
“I had thought of going to California and having a baby, but I couldn’t bring the baby back to Italy, because you need the mother’s passport,” Gabbana says. “I asked about adoption in Italy. It’s very hard for a straight couple here — imagine if you are gay!”
Costco is facing threats of a boycott from social conservatives after the company refused to drop its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The board of directors for the company, the third-largest retailer after Walmart and Amazon, unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote against a proposal from a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, that would require the wholesale giant to evaluate and issue a report on the financial risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion goals.
Shareholders are expected to vote on the NCPPR's proposal at their annual meeting on January 23.
Warning: This article contains explicit details regarding the sexual assault of minors.
William Zulock and Zachary Zulock, a gay couple in Georgia, have been each sentenced to 100 years in prison for sexually abusing their two adopted sons.
William, 34, pleaded guilty on August 20, 2024, to six counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of incest, and two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
The next day, his husband, Zachary, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, and two counts of pandering to a person under 18.
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Is a very late apology better than none at all? That appears to be the question when it comes to how the LGBT community will respond to the latest from Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have taken advantage of an interview with Vogue magazine to apologize for controversial comments the pair made in an interview with Italian magazine Panorama in March about their opposition to gay adoptions and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Dolce had previously referred to children born via IVF as “synthetic children,” sparking outrage from a number of celebrities, including singer Elton John, who had two children born via IVF with his husband, David Furnish. Dolce & Gabbana’s comments John to call for a boycott of the fashion line, and other activists to hold demonstrations outside their stores.
In the Vogue interview, Dolce adopts a somewhat conciliatory tone, telling writer Sarah Mower he understands how much his comments hurt people.
“I’ve done some soul-searching,” he says. “I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize. They are just kids.”
Dolce also says he doesn’t know everything about IVF, but acknowledges that people should choose for themselves how to shape their families, saying “I love it when people are happy.”
But Dolce also says that choices available to other gay men and women are not an option for him personally, citing his devout Catholicism.
In that same interview, Gabbana also shares that he previously considered becoming a father, but was stymied because of Italy’s prohibition on both same-sex marriage and single-parent adoption, as well as Italy’s cumbersome rules governing adoption from other countries.
“I had thought of going to California and having a baby, but I couldn’t bring the baby back to Italy, because you need the mother’s passport,” Gabbana says. “I asked about adoption in Italy. It’s very hard for a straight couple here — imagine if you are gay!”
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