Bolsonaro Says Gay Tourists Welcome If They ‘Have Sex With a Woman’

Jair Bolsonaro doesn't just hate queer Brazilians -- he hates the rest of you gays, too!

While speaking to reporters in Brasilia on Thursday of last week, Brazil's thoroughly awful, far-right President said that LGBTQ+ tourists should keep out of the South American country.

"If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life," said Bolsonaro, per The Guardian. "But we can't let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can't be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families."

A lot of queer tourists travel to Brazil every year, Reuters reports, especially for explicitly pro-gay and other gay-friendly events like Sao Paulo's annual LGBTQ+ Pride Parade and Rio de Janeiro's Carnival.

"Bolsonaro's homophobic remarks will have social and economic repercussions for Brazil," said John Tanzella, president of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, in a statement to Reuters. "His hate speech not only deters LGBTQ+ travelers, but also their allies around the world."

Such homophobic statements are nothing out of the ordinary for Bolsonaro, who campaigned on a thoroughly anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, anti-woman, and anti-LGBTQ+ platform last year. The President has often said the Brazilian family unit is "threatened" by queer people and that the community's "gender ideology" is a danger to children.

"Yes, I'm homophobic -- and proud of it," he has said.

Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has stripped LGBTQ+ concerns from Brazil's Human Rights MInistry's agenda and taken steps to remove queer content from school curricula. Despite all of this, he retains the support of many world leaders -- including American President Donald Trump.

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