‘In Total Conflict With My Beliefs’: Dolce & Gabbana Executive Quits Over Anti-Gay Comments

A Dolce & Gabbana executive has quit over his bosses’ anti-gay comments.

The head of Dolce & Gabbana’s English language online magazine, Swide, has resigned over ant-gay comments made by design icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

Giuliano Federico has headed the magazine as its editor in chief “since its conception in 2008,” the website states, “and as of May 2013 he has taken a more inspirational role as Creative Director.” 

In a public post on Facebook, Federico called it “a difficult but clear decision.”

“I believe that fashion designers should stay in their own routes simply designing clothes, even if Stefano and Domenico always successfully aimed in putting their own personal values into their collections,” he says. 

Federico adds that the “recent personal opinions expressed by the two designers in the interview for Panorama magazine regarding the idea of family and the way human beings can create their own families, values that are central in the public italian political debate, are in total conflict with my personal believes and with my commitments towards civil rights in my country.”

Over the past few days, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, powerhouse icons in the fashion world, have been lambasted for claiming that gay families are not real families.

“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.”

Procreation “must be an act of love,” Domenico Dolce said. “I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteri [for] rent, semen chosen from a catalog,” despite he acknowledgment that he had asked a friend to be a surrogate mother for him several years ago.

After the worldwide backlash that has consumed both mainstream and social media, the designers were forced to walk back their statements, although they have refused to apologize, even after calling Elton John a “fascist“ and those who disagree with their opinions “racist dictators.”

Federico added, “For this reason I’ve resigned from my role as editorial director at Swide.com. It is time that each of us makes little actions to claim their own believes.” 

“I’m proud of being italian, proud of our past and traditions, but i believe that Italy can look at a more modern and equal future for our citizens and children. All children.”

Note: Quotes in text are as written. 

 

Image via Instagram
Hat tip: Perez Hilton