Bolsonaro: Brazil must not become 'gay tourism paradise'

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.

• Is the honeymoon period over for Brazil's Bolsonaro?

• A tale of two Trumps

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.