DONATELLA VERSACE ON CHAMPIONING LGBTQ+ ADVOCACY

By Marc Karimzadeh

From Mission’s LGBTQ issue, we spoke to designer and gay icon Donatella Versace on her ardent support of the queer community.

New York City’s WorldPride celebration this past summer attracted every boldface name worth his or her salt—think Madonna, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, and Andy Cohen, and that’s just a sampling. But to many in the crowd—especially those of us who work in fashion—the festivities in and around Greenwich Village had room for just one queen: Donatella Versace.
As WorldPride NYC also marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Donatella was tapped to serve as an official Stonewall Ambassador. And the designer arrived from her native Milan ready to celebrate and march, wearing a sparkling rainbow-sequined minidress teamed with matching platform boots that were thigh-high and sky-high. When she joined a Pride float surrounded by a gaggle of handsome gay admirers (in rainbow Versace-logo T-Shirts, natch), the crowd went wild, and understandably so.

“I was honored,” Donatella recalls of her role in this historic weekend. “I know what Stonewall means for the LGBTQ+ community and being their Ambassador is something I take very seriously. These accolades are not something that you ask for. They are given to you because, probably, you have done something to deserve it. At least, this is what I like to think.”

And she has every right to think so. Donatella has been a lifelong supporter of LGBTQ+ people and their fight for acceptance and equal rights. When Versace saw the crowds that weekend, the moment reinforced the power of community, leaving a lasting impression on her.

“I saw the beautiful diversity we are surrounded with, I saw people crying and laughing, but there was this electric, joyful energy that I had rarely seen in my life,” she remembers. “Then there was the parade. Oh my God! So much love, so much happiness, so much… pride! It was really an honor to be part of those moments. I will never forget it.”

To her, Stonewall is a symbol for courage and strength, and, as she puts it, “people who support each other to change something that is wrong. Stonewall to me is like the feminist movement, or any other action or person who was brave enough to raise his or her head and speak up when they saw something wrong.”

Courage and strength—terms Versace herself is all too familiar with. Underneath everything that has contributed to her icon image—the platinum-blonde tresses, the signature deep voice, and the powerful and sexy dress code that’s the signature of the house her brother Gianni founded in Milan in 1978—Donatella is also the ultimate survivor. It’s been well documented how the designer has had to come to terms with the tragic loss of her brother and taking over the house’s design reins, all while facing her own issues with addiction. And she worked through it all, came out on top, and in the process, became a global symbol of female empowerment, strength, and, of course, style. No wonder we queers consider her a true icon.

To Donatella, her support for LGBTQ+ is a no-brainer and a deeply personal choice. It goes back to her early teens in Reggio Calabria, where the Versace’s hail from. It wasn’t easy to be openly out in this part of southern Italy—or anywhere in the world, for that matter—and she recalls the moment Gianni came out to her.

“I was the first person he told and I was 11 years old,” she says. “I told him that I loved him and that I did not care whether he was straight or gay as long as he was happy. And that was it. I have personally grown up surrounded by people of the LGBTQ+ community, and I want to underline the word PEOPLE. I am conscious of the fact that not everyone has had the same luck that I had, but I do not make these distinctions. I am interested in what people have to say, in what people do. The fact that they love a man or a woman or both has never been something I cared about. At the same time, I could see the discrimination, the hate, the names my friends were called. And I could never either understand or accept that. That’s why I started to take action to make it stop and spread awareness. That’s why I have been asking for tolerance and understanding, for embracing diversity as something good and positive.”

The world may have come a long way with LGBTQ+ rights but it is still not enough for Donatella. She rejoiced at Italy’s 2016 decision to legally recognize same-sex unions—“I said, FINALLY! I am glad it happened but it took so long it’s like a joke!”—but she finds there is much more work to be done to fight discrimination and hatred.

“The latest crimes against the transgender world are intolerable in 2020,” she says. “It’s like the society is going backwards rather than forward. And this is why we all need to stick together and fight for equality. No one today should be afraid of stepping out of their houses because they choose to be who they are. No one should be discriminated against or, worse, physically harmed. This is something that must stop and it can only stop if we, as a society, stick together and protect those who need to be protected.”

As someone who loathes injustice, Donatella chooses to stand up for those she feels are being mistreated. “It does not matter whether [you’re] straight or gay, these distinctions are so ‘the other century’!” she says. “I did not have to look far for inspiration when you had a brother like Gianni, and in our home, we had people like Andy Warhol coming and going, but also people like Prince or David Bowie, who were not gay but had fun playing with their image. They were really so many steps ahead of everyone else.”

Bowie and Prince were indeed pioneers of gender fluidity long before it was a runway trend, and Donatella is all for people being free to be who they are. “I do not have another way of putting it,” she says. “It should not even be a topic of conversation. I know that we are far from being a completely accepting society and that we need to discuss these things, but at the same time, I feel that in 2020 we should all be more respectful of each other’s freedom to do or be whatever we want.”

When asked what advice she would give to LGBTQ+ youth struggling to face their sexual identity, Donatella had this to say: “This is a difficult question because all of us have a different history. First of all, I’d make sure they knew that they are not alone, that there are places and people that can support them and help them during their discovery journey. Sometimes, the first step—the accepting the fact that you are not what this society would like you to be or conform to—is the hardest part. I would make sure they become part of a community of people who have gone or are going through the same moments. I do not know if this is enough, but sometimes, even a kind word or telling them that there’s nothing ‘wrong’ in what they are feeling and that they are OK the way they are is of help. I could go on and on.”

Of course, it also helps to have queer role models and friends of the community who, like Donatella herself, wave the flag for all things queer. To her, “anyone who fights for the LGBTQ+ community is a gay icon,” and she feels humbled to be considered one herself. “I have never known how that came to be, but the love and support that I have always received from the gay community has always been so much it is overwhelming. I am proud to be a gay icon.”

Image credit: Courtesy of Versace