Dolce & Gabbana sorry for anti-gay, ‘synthetic’ babies comments

It’s five months late but Domenico Dolce has finally apologized for negative comments he and partner Stefano Gabbana made about same-sex parents and calling babies conceived via in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination ‘synthetic’.

The Italian designers, who make up luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana, are gay and were once a couple.

Dolce was quoted as saying in a Vogue magazine article published on Friday, ‘I am so sorry. It was not my intention to offend anyone.’

‘I’ve done some soul-searching,’ he added. ‘I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize. They are just kids… You don’t need labels, baby labels.’

On IVF births, he said, ‘I think everybody chooses for themselves. I don’t know everything about IVF, but I love it when people are happy. It’s like medicine. Science has been put on the table to help people.’

In March, the pair told Italian magazine Panorama, ‘We oppose gay adoptions. 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.’

Dolce said, ‘You are born to a mother and a father – or at least that’s how it should be. I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented wombs, semen chosen from a catalog,’ while his partner added, ‘the only family is the traditional one.’

They later issued a statement but stopped short of making an apology after their comments sparked a sparked a backlash and angered gay celebrity fathers such as Elton John and Ricky Martin.

John, who has two sons conceived via IVF with husband David Furnish, called their thinking ‘archaic’ and called for a boycott of the fashion brand.

‘How dare you refer to my beautiful children as “synthetic”,’ Elton John wrote on Instagram. ‘And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF — a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.’

Ricky Martin said, ‘Your voices are too powerful to be spreading too much hate. Wake up, it’s 2015. Love yourself guys.’

Gabbana also told Vogue he has pondered becoming a father and/or adopting a child.

Their home country however does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil partnerships.

‘When they ask if I wanted to be a parent, I say yes, of course, why not? But it’s not possible in Italy,’ he told Vogue. ‘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. I asked about adoption in Italy. It’s very hard for a straight couple here—imagine if you are gay!’

Dolce also said in the interview that certain choices other gay men and women have made for themselves are not open to him because of his Catholic beliefs.

The post Dolce & Gabbana sorry for anti-gay, ‘synthetic’ babies comments appeared first on Gay Star News.

Sylvia Tan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/dolce-gabbana-sorry-for-anti-gay-synthetic-babies-comments/

Masked Men Smoke-Bomb Ukraine Gay Event

They hurled several bombs into an Odessa venue where an LGBT forum was about to take place, then fled.

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Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/world/2015/08/15/masked-men-smoke-bomb-ukraine-gay-event

Trans-attracted Men, You Have a Duty to Speak Up
Amber Monroe‘s body was found on August 8th after she was shot and killed. K.C. Haggard was brutally stabbed to death on July 23rd. India Clarke was beaten to death, three days prior. This past Monday, police in Dallas identified the body of Shade Schuler.

This year alone in the United States, thirteen trans women have been murdered, eleven of them were trans women of color. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs documented that 55% of anti-LGBTQ homicide victims last year were trans women, half were trans women of color.

While there are many factors contributing to this epidemic of hate and violence against trans women of color, I want to focus on the role of silence and shame in a group of men that have a special responsibility to speak out against this crisis. I’m talking about men like me.

I am a Black man who is in love with a Black trans woman.

Last summer, I participated in a rally for Islan Nettles on the one year anniversary of her brutal murder. I remember reading her story and collapsing into tears. Islan’s death was the result of hate, hatred of her very existence as a Black trans woman. I realized that the failure to confront the public shaming of trans-attracted men not only has deep psychological impacts on men like me, but far more importantly, it fuels the cycle of violence against trans people by dehumanizing them. Remaining silent about our relationships further entrenches the narrative that they are nothing but a fetish, a shameful secret. This reduces our partners to objects and objectification is at the root of dehumanization.

As a heterosexual cisgendered man in a society that rewards me for these things, I realized I had a duty to share my story without shame.

Ever since I became aware of my own sexuality and began to express myself accordingly, people began labeling me as gay. I knew that I was attracted to trans women, I knew I wasn’t gay, but I didn’t understand gender and sexuality in a way that I could articulate my truth to others. I thought I was the only one who felt this way, I felt alone. In high school, I was teased mercilessly and homophobic slurs were hurled at me on an almost daily basis. I remember an adolescence of desperate attempts to slip under the radar, evade ridicule, and deny myself.

Now I know that there are many other heterosexual cisgendered men who are attracted to trans women, but the lack of any unified voice from our part against the epidemic of anti-trans violence, is indicative of the stigma and shame that surrounds our sexual and romantic relationships.

As someone who is in love with a Black trans woman, it hurts me to think that she could be murdered in the streets simply for being who she is.

Trans women of color are on the front lines of the Movement for Black Lives – marching, organizing, and putting their lives on the line for the liberation struggle of all Black people. We – trans-attracted men – cannot allow society to continue shaming us into silence when that silence makes our partners all the more vulnerable to hate and violence. Openly loving a trans woman might seem like a courageous act, but it is not nearly enough. Circumstances demand that we come out as a community, speak out, and join the struggle to ensure that trans lives truly matter.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Asian pupils, parents and teachers turn schools purple to support LGBTI youth

LGBTI students across Asia are being made to feel safe in the classroom thanks to a new campaign.

Backed by groups including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the campaign, #PurpleMySchool, encourages young people to wear, draw or make something purple in support of LGBTI youth.

‘Many young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are bullied over their sexuality or gender identity, and walking into school every day can fill them with fear and dread,’ the Purple My School Facebook page explains.

‘Show that they can feel safe with you, in your classroom or school.’

Students from Harbin Medical University, China wear purple in support of LGBTI youth

Since its launch, to coincide with International Youth Day on 12 August, the campaign has received submissions from students, teachers and parents across the Asia-Pacific region, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, China and the Philippines.

These include wearing purple ribbons, creating purple flower garlands, making special t-shirts, or even simply turning up to school in a variety of purple outfits.

But spending the day being creative wearing purple is only an outward sign of three inward pledges all the participants are making to support LGBTI youth.

Anyone sharing a photo is urged to ‘never tolerate or excuse bullying’, to ‘be a person that young LGBTI people can turn to’, and to do what they can to ‘create a safe space for young LGBTI students’.

Students from Samar State University, Philippines, celebrate diversity

From now until 10 December, those taking part in the campaign can submit their photos; the best images will be collated and published in a publication about bullying, with materials available in Indonesian, Chinese, English, Vietnamese, Hindi and Thai.

The post Asian pupils, parents and teachers turn schools purple to support LGBTI youth appeared first on Gay Star News.

Mel Spencer

www.gaystarnews.com/article/asian-pupils-parents-and-teachers-turn-schools-purple-to-support-lgbti-youth/

Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’

West Hollywood’s iconic gay bar-restaurant-entertainment complex The Abbey and its staff are the subject of a new reality TV series for which some shooting has already been done, The Wrap reports:

The Abbey founder and president David Cooley greeted 500 of his closest friends at his birthday party at the iconic West Hollywood gay bar on Tuesday night and surprised guests with the announcement he had reacquired 100 percent ownership of the club…The celebration was being filmed and it turns out the cameras capturing his festive occasion were not just for posterity, but the footage being shot was setting the stage for an opening storyline of a reality series centered on the gay bar.

Patrons should be prepared to see cameras at the restaurant “soon”, says The Abbey’s publicist.

The block where The Abbey is located also includes Real Housewife Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant Pump, which is already the subject of a Bravo reality series, Vanderpump Rules. It’s unclear where Cooley’s show will find a home on TV:

Cooley declined to provide specifics about whether a network, or which one, had commissioned the shooting underway, but did say that he is not self-financing the production. Cooley is working with Banijay, the reality production company headed by former Endemol topper David Goldberg, that also counts “I Am Cait”, the Kardashians franchise, and E!’s “Total Divas” amongst its formats.

Cooley told The Wrap the show would focus on the “positive” aspects of his business: “It will not be ‘who is sleeping with who’ and me yelling as the ‘yelling boss.’”

The post Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’ appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’

Madonna Won't Return to Russia Because of Antigay Laws

‘I don’t want to perform in places where being homosexual is tantamount to a crime,’ the singer says.

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Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/08/15/madonna-wont-return-russia-because-antigay-laws