SO PAULO Millions of Brazilians sent a defiant message to right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday, at the countrys first Pride parade since the ardent homophobe took office in January: They wont go back into the closet, no matter how hard he tries to roll back the rights theyve gained.

Bolsonaro, who won Brazil s presidential election last October, once said that hed rather have a dead son than a gay one and, at another point in his past, compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia. As president, he has made homophobic jokes during state visits to other countries and gleefully celebrated an openly gay congressmans decision to flee the country amid death threats from Bolsonaro supporters. His government has implemented or attempted to enact a slew of anti-LGBTQ policies from the very beginning.