The designers behind Dolce & Gabbana say they are entitled to their opinions about gay parenthood, even if others don’t agree with it.

Domenico Dolce slammed gay parenthood in an interview with Italian magazine Panorama, saying that a family is only one that comes about by “traditional” means.

“No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: Life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed," Dolce was quoted saying. “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 uterus, semen chosen from a catalog.”

“The family is not a fad. In it there is a supernatural sense of belonging,” Stefano Gabbana added.

The designers were a same-sex couple for decades before they publicly split up in 2005.

The interview caught the attention of Sir Elton John who took to social media to call for a boycott of the luxury label on Sunday.

“How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’,” he wrote on his Instagram account. “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”

The hashtag caught on and has since been used more than more than 35,000 times on Twitter.

Gabbana was quick to issue a retort, calling John “a fascist” for not tolerating opposite views. He too used a hashtag, #boycotteltonjohn, which has been used more than 1,600 times.

Other celebrities jumped in with their own views.

Ricky Martin and Courtney Love are among those who used the #BoycottDolceGabbana hashtag on Twitter. Love also posted on Facebook that she wanted to gather all of her D&G items and burn them.

On Monday, the designers released individual statements via Gabbana’s personal Instagram page.

“We firmly believe in democracy and the fundamental principle of freedom of expression that upholds it. We talked about our way of seeing reality, but it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love,” Gabbana said.

Dolce’s statement was posted shortly after: “I’m Sicilian and I grew up in a traditional family, made up of a mother, a father and children. I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I’ve known. But in my personal experience, family had a different configuration. That is the place where I learnt the values of love and family. This is the reality in which I grew up, but it does not imply that I don’t understand different ones. I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people’s choices and decisions.”

Gabbana has put up 52 separate Instagram posts in relation to the controversy since Sunday.

At about 3 a.m. EST Monday, Gabanna put up a photo of a newspaper article featuring a screenshot of his two comments on Elton John’s post with an Italian caption that slams the musician for judging him for his opinion on parenting. It translates to: “#Boycottdolcegabbana THIS is intolerance x different opinions!”

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