Dolce & Gabbana clarify stance on same-sex parents

Dolce & Gabbana have clarified their remarks about same-sex parents after Sir Elton John launched a boycott of the fashion designers over their ideas about family.

In a new interview with Panorama magazine, Italian fashion icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana call in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies "chemical offsprings" from a "rented uterus".

Elton John, who is a dad to two sons with his husband David Furnish, subsequently took to Twitter.com to blast the duo, writing, "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 fulfill 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."

Other gay dads including Ricky Martin and Glee creator Ryan Murphy echoed Elton John's sentiment, as well as rocker Courtney Love, who wrote, "Just round up all my Dolce & Gabbana pieces, I want to burn them. I'm just beyond words and emotions. Boycott senseless bigotry!"

Following the backlash, Dolce released a statement to U.K.'s The Guardian newspaper clarifying his previous comments, and insisting he does not judge others for starting a family the "non-traditional way".

The statement reads: "I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people's choices and decisions. 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."

Gabbana, who used to be involved in a romantic relationship with his fashion partner, added, "It was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love. We firmly believe in democracy and the fundamental principle of freedom of expression that upholds it."