Just when you thought Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were free from controversy, the designers have stepped in it. Again. The pair, who spent all of last year fighting allegations of tax evasion that were ultimately cleared last October (after initially being convicted), gave an controversial interview in Italy’s Panorama magazine that is ruffling more than a few feathers. In it, they speak out against non-traditional families, specifically mentioning gay couples (both men are gay, btw), and in vitro fertilization.
"You are born to a mother and a father. Or at least that’s how it should be," Dolce said. "I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented wombs, semen chosen from a catalog."
One can imagine how well this is sitting with some of the designers’ most loyal clients—many of them celebrities who can actually afford their expensive designer clothing. Courtney Love, Ryan Murphy, and Elton John have been the most vocal over social media, with the latter calling for a boycott of their clothing. John and his partner David Furnish have two sons that were born via surrogate.
31 comments:
They will apologize and rescind their statement saying that they were misquoted, out of context and are unabashedly in favor of homosexual homes and IVF in 3,2,1...
As much as I hate to promote paying out tons of amounts of money for label brand products mostly made in China, I'd say to make some exceptions in this case and she'll out money in support of d&g and buy their stuff in anti-protest.
Good for them. And it's worth noting that these two can go on doing unnatural things to each other under the cover of darkness without needing any civil recognition. That's because civil recognition of unnatural relationships has nothing to do with rights, but with a desire to pervert civil society.
While I wouldn't want to dress like them, I agree with Julian Barkin that their business should be supported.
Unless we support those who face the wrath of this aggressive and vengeful movement, we will all one by one be forced into silence and then dragooned into their festivities on pain of being 'labeled a hater'. They are the bullies of our decade. If your Catholic opinion happens to cross their path, they will make a U TURN to come after you, your employer, your children, your spouse.
If your employer should stand firm, they'll call for a boycott. If it doesn't work.... only then will you be safe for a while. But the less people stand up, the worse the price will be for regaining the right to publicly live one's faith or even simply live without being forced to salute their world view.
I don't think they are getting "crucified" for expressing their belief. No one is hauling out the nails trying to make them stop expressing their opinions.
This is not fascism, but disagreement.
And Elton's kids aren't "synthetic."
O poor naive former PI, just wait until the Church in this country as already in Canada will be fined for preaching natural law as it concern marriage and sexuality and possible prison time for those who public
Clyde espose it in Church! Yes this is fascism to the core! And just as Pope FRANCIS can call CATHOLICS with several children, rabbits, this guys can call designer children synthetic. No difference in use of hyperbole to make a valid point!
Publicly espouse it!
No, Good Father, it's not fascism. It's just your own version of National Enquirer style bloviating.
You typical hyperbole doesn't make a valid point, since disagreement isn't fascism.
I'll visit you in jail, by the way...
By the way, my favorite Elton John song was a duet with Jennifer Rush entitled "Flames of Paradise". It failed to rise on the charts, but I enjoy it and the accompanying video.
Yes former PI no fascism here !
A Catholic-school teacher in New Jersey has been suspended from her position after she came under fire for a Facebook post on homosexuality.
Patricia Jannuzzi became the target of criticism after she charged that gay-rights activists “want to reengineer western civ into a slow extinction.” She added: “We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of children and humanity!”
After a former student mounted a petition drive protesting the teacher’s comments, Immaculata School in Somerville, New Jersey, issued a statement saying that Jannuzzi’s post “do not in any way represent the philosophy, mission or student experience of this high school.” The school’s principal reassured parents that “the information posted on this social media page has not been reflected in the curriculum content of the classes she teaches."
Jannuzzi has removed the controversial post from her Facebook page. She has not commented on the disciplinary action against her.
I know I'm afraid to speak my opinion. I would lose friends and colleagues who I depend on to help get work done. I am friends with some on Facebook. I can't share news articles or opinions. I can't even like anything because that will be seen.
Fr. Kavanaugh is like Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, who does not understand metaphor. Or Sheldon in Big Bang Theory, not understanding sarcasm.
Exactly. The gaystapo are illiberal. They may claim to be on the winning side of history, the inevitable, resistance is futile 'future' but they sure don't act like it. They're not magnanimous in their 'near certain victory'. No, they're vicious.
So people must be fired from jobs not merely argued with. And Catholic jobs at that for the audacity of being Catholic in public.
They are all for "diversity" so long as it's not Catholic or disagreeable. All in favor of 'free speech' so long as its porn. But let someone privately opine that porn is bad and they'll demand people be silenced.
And then there is the largely unreported gay violence on straights.... the physical aggression when verbal and political heat is not enough. All in the name of stopping the bullies of course.
We are not facing a live and let live future of 'moral relativism'. We are facing in the gaystapo like in the Radical Muslims, a totalitarian world view that is dogmatic and insists on having a monopoly of power and speech in all areas. Stand up to this mafia at your own peril.
And it works! Most of us will self-censor at work, at school, in public, rather than risk terrorist threats to our employment and our physical security. Most of us with children or vulnerable dependents will seek to go underground rather than challenge the mob to an intellectual or physical duel. Most people are not hard wired to be confrontational.
Most people only find courage in crowds. And both Muslim radicals and gaystapo types operate from the place of either real mobs or the perceived 'majority'. Which is why the Duck Dynasty guys were such an anomaly: only their wealth and tight knit family unit (and guns) and millions of fans kept them safe.
Most people in their shoes are turned so toxic overnight that they're treated as lepers.
But the more we all do this, the more we let these tactics work, the worse off it's going to be for everyone. The higher the price to regain a Catholic friendly world.
The call is to Chastity. People don't have to like it, people don't have to live it, people can label it unrealistic, medieval, hateful, discriminatory, illegal and bigoted but the call is still the same: Chastity.
Many people are born all sorts of ways -- that does not mean one must be and live that way.
A born good person can choose evil, a born bad person can choose good, despite everyone and everything around them saying otherwise.
We have free will choice.
The Holy Bible is full of redemptive situations and examples. We have Jesus and Saints as living examples of the path one is, ultimately, called to live.
The call is to Chastity and all that is good.
qwikness,
He's not like Sheldon. His mother had him tested.
Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...
I'll visit you in jail, by the way...
God touches us in many ways. It may be that you'll have a change of heart and be in with Fr. McDonald. :-)
"UPDATE: Someone who is close to the situation writes to say that the response to all this is not coming from Brennan and Kline, but from the diocese itself, and that we should not assume that Brennan (pastor) and Kline (principal) agree with what is being done to Jannuzzi under their names. Furthermore, the suspension was for imprudent use of social media. This person attended the school and says it has always been very orthodox, as is the parish. Jannuzzi is still working as Director of the New Evangelization and of the St. Thomas More Ministry at the parish."
"In a post that's now deleted, Jannuzzi wrote that the gay "agenda" seeks to "reengineer western civ into a slow extinction..."
Just as this blog is a place where it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction, Ms. Jannuzzi seems to have a predilection for unwarranted and unhelpful hyperbole.
Bazinga!
What is it about you and the other fascists hating hyperbole. Poor Pope Francis would not be amused. Is there freedom of expression or not?
Of course there is freedom if expression. Anyone can say, within limits, what he/she wants to say.
There is, however, no freedom to expect that someone will not strongly disagree with what one says. There is no freedom to expect that because one is expressing firmly held religious beliefs that there will not be someone who holds different religious beliefs.
And there is no freedom to think that "I can say what I want" and expect that there will be no repercussions.
People who call their bishop's regulations "dumb" on a public blog should keep this in mind.
I don't hate hyperbole, nor Terpsichore, nor Melpemone.
In Europe, real fascists killed millions.
In America, as Tom Wolfe wrote, the fascists are always coming but never get here.
Anonymous (9:42), it's America, you have free speech! You can even post whatever you want on Facebook and use the privacy controls so that your gay or liberal or black or non-liturgical fundamentalist friends won't see it. I'm sure there are any number of kind people here who would explain. Bazinga -- or as the kids say, "Boom!"
'... it's America, you have free speech!'
And yet, regardless of how much one desires the government of the United States be overthrown, one may not advocate it.
But I guess it's a rational limit to free speech. It's not like the US government needs to worry about being overthrown or anything.
Flavius,
I believe (perhaps mistakenly) that the phrase is "violent overthrow", with emphasis on "violent".
18 U.S. Code § 2385 does state (edited for brevity):
'Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates... the... desirability... overthrowing... government of the United States... by force or violence...'
However, I would argue that all sedition in the United States has an inherently violent undertone, as there exists no reason to non-violently overthrow an elected government (presuming, of course, elections in the US are free and without tampering).
Maybe I'm being dense, but it would seem unreasonable to advocate the non-violent overthrow of a government in a nation where one can simply elect a new one, without resorting to a revolution. Therefore, it appears that any type of sedition is de facto illegal, since any seditious activity is de facto violent.
From a logical standpoint, anyway. Because the law does not operate solely on logic, my views are likely not in accordance with the prevailing, authoritative legal opinions (indeed, the US government has not prosecuted anyone for sedition since 1961, although it has prosecuted people for seditious conspiracy).
The repercussions to free speech disagreements only come in the form of "fire X employee or face the wrath of the mob" when someone who is not a progressive offends the tender sensitivities of a progressive or a progressive sacred cow. Let them offend OUR sensibilities and NOTHING HAPPENS. We may retort with words of disagreement, we may ask for fair play, but we are not in the business of demanding liberal progressives to be fired from their jobs.
That a Catholic can be fired from a job for a bit of hyperbolic expression online, in a form that hurt no one, that caused no physical violence, that caused no mob aggression.... is noteworthy.
Merely begging to differ with the LGBTQ movement's truth claims is tantamount in their minds to murderous hatred. And they demand your scalp. Giving it to them only makes them bolder and their demands more shrill.
Had the diocese or school calmly replied that a teacher may opine on all manner of topics so long as she's not spouting heresy the controversy would have died down.
But what happens? By making Political Correctness the arbiter of what is legally protected speech the church cedes the high ground.
Daniel
"In America, as Tom Wolfe wrote, the fascists are always coming but never get here"
I take that to be Mr Wolfe's commentary on the hyperbole of the left. An overhyped threat-an enemy to vigilantly keep at bay which in reality never had much of a chance of setting up camp- was the ever present clarion. Meanwhile our society was enmeshed by other evils.
It appears we are speculating about the woman's firing without a clear understanding of what she said, the context and what led up to it. (People who claim they "got fired for 'X' " seldom volunteer information on the 'A' through 'W' that came first. There's such a thing as the last straw; in my experience, people seldom get fired for a single word or a single sentence.)
But ignorance being bliss, please carry on.
As for the pitiful argument that it never happens to the other side... well, of course it does. How soon we forget that a gay teacher was fired last year, a short walk from St. Joe's.
Of course, that incident does not fit the conservatives' "poor me" mantle of victimhood.
The gay employee wanted to get 'married' to his live in boy friend.
But he also wanted everyone to know about it.
It's the latter act that led to his firing. From a purely Catholic perspective (i.e. the perspective of his employer), there is only one type of marriage and two guys or two gals can't have it. So in our eyes they're "merely" fornicating with or without a ring and expensive party involving a commitment ceremony.
Now fornication is a mortal sin, but it's also a private matter that people can't easily prove and tend to do in a private setting.
Thus it most often is a case of 'don't ask/don't tell'. But let any heterosexual teacher begin bragging about his sexual activities outside of marriage and asking the peer group to approve and see what happens. The same thing that happened to Mr. Dollar.
His decision to make public a private immoral decision (even if it is 'legal') makes him a permanent scandal - i.e. bad example - for the students of a CATHOLIC school. The school thus had no choice but fire him or tacitly approve of his immoral lifestyle.
But that's the catch-22 that we're going to see more and more of. This is what all martyrs faced: either accept quietly the King's "marriage" to Ann or go lose all support (or your head).
Either uncritically accept anything proposed by the sexual revolutionaries among us as 'good' or be destroyed. Well, as Catholics we cannot tacitly agree with their truth claims. We have to in fact and in love teach them the truth about life and sexuality.
Allowing Dollar to keep his job is hardly a violation of church teaching. I don't know of any church teaching that says gay people should not hold jobs, and his employment at MdS was no more violation than having divorced people work there.
He was a band teacher, and reportedly a very good one, and firing him probably did more harm to the Church among the young folks there than letting him stay.
If you disagree, maybe it's time to paint over the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If Pope Julius II could hire Michelangelo, surely a gay man can run a high school band. Even a married one.
The mission of a Catholic school is (or should be) to provide a good scholastic education grounded in the teachings of our Faith. This is what sets it apart from the local secular public schools and private academies. If this were (or is) not the case then why have the Catholic name or affiliation? So the example given by the teachers (at least in their public life) is of paramount importance. Scandal is a great teacher but the lesson it imparts can be most harmful. It is a better teacher when it is answered with sharp consequences.
Daniel there is a lot of speculation that is voyeurism concerning the sexuality of people today and in the past. Would you like to back up your claim about Michelangelo with facts? Do you know his private confessions to a confessor?
I would like to know where you work Daniel and if you violated a fundamental principle of your workplace, in the secular sense, for example wore a tee-shirt with the competitions name emblazoned on it, and you actively promoted the goods of your competing company, would you not be terminated?
Being gay is no obstacle to working in a Catholic school as long as one is chaste and does not advocate for the religion of secularism as you do. If you are in a Catholic school you uphold the teachings of the church either by being quiet or actively teaching these teachings.
Do embrace the secular religion agenda and promoting it as an "in your face" agenda in a Catholic school is a firing offense pure and simple.
Now Mt. de Sales could have embraced the lifestyle and secular religion of any of its faculty and could have then continued as a non-sectarian school as the Bishop of Savannah would have stripped them of their Catholic identity and rightfully so. They value, though, their Catholic identity and do what is right.
We have many Protestants working in our school. If they embraced a philosophy and attended a Church that professes the Catholic Church to be the whore of Babylon, that person's job in a Catholic school would be in jeopardy no matter how much beloved this person is, no matter how good a teacher, no matter the cult of the personality that surrounds them.
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