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EPA
President Bolsonaro has been criticised in the past for his public statements on homosexuality
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised for insisting the country shouldn’t become a “gay tourism paradise”.
“If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life,” said Mr Bolsonaro, according to Crusoé magazine.
“Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families,” he added.
Mr Bolsonaro has already drawn ire for being a self-described “homophobic”.
He reportedly made his latest comments at a breakfast meeting with reporters in the country’s capital Brasília.
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An immediate backlash has been prompted from Brazil’s LGBT community.
“This is not a head of state – this is a national disgrace,” said David Miranda, a councillor in Rio de Janeiro, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
“He is staining the image of our country in every imaginable way,” Mr Miranda added.
The Brazilian president, a former army captain, is a deeply divisive figure whose racist, homophobic and misogynistic remarks have angered many.
In previous interviews he has said he would rather have a dead son than a homosexual son.
Earlier this month, New York’s American Museum of Natural History cancelled an event to honour Mr Bolsonaro on its premises.