15th Gay Pride Parade in Sao Paulo.
People carry a rainbow flag during the 15th Gay Pride Parade in Avenida Paulista in Sao Paulo June 26, 2011. More than 3 million LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) took part in the annual Sao Paulo Gay Pride Parade, making it the world's largest gay pride march, according to Brazilian tourism authorities. Reuters.

The São Paulo city council has adopted legislation to bring a Heterosexual Pride Day to South America's largest city.

The event, to be held the third Sunday of each December, must be signed into law by Sao Paulo Mayor Gilberto Kassab before it is made official. Kassab has said only that he is studying it, and his office has declined to say whether he supports the proposal.

According to the legislation, the date of the event will appear on the official calendar of the city and it will be up to the Municipality of São Paulo to "raise awareness and encourage the public to safeguard the morals and good customs."

Authored by evangelical Councilman Carlos Apolinario, the legislation for a Heterosexual Pride Day is "not anti-gay, but a protest against the privileges the gay community enjoys."

"I respect gays and I am against any kind of aggression made against them," Apolinario said. "I have no trouble coexisting with gays as long as their behavior is normal."

More than three million LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) took part in the 15th Gay Pride Parade on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo in 2011, making it the world's largest gay pride march, according to Brazilians tourism authorities.

Apolinario had previously tried to get the gay pride parade off of São Paulo's well-known Paulista Avenue. When this was unsuccessful, he turned his attention toward instituting the Heterosexual Pride Day.

The Brazilian LGBT Association criticized the new legislation, saying that it could provoke homophobic violence.

"How many LGBTs will be attacked because of the message that only heterosexuality makes someone a moral person and a good citizen?" the association said in a statement.

"The celebration of heterosexual pride is inappropriate because it belittles the just cause of the LGBT community," the statement added. "Unlike homosexuals, heterosexuals are not discriminated against simply for being heterosexuals."

According to a recent report by the gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia, 260 gays were murdered last year in Brazil, up 113 percent from five years ago.

Brazil's LGBT community has long complained about ongoing homophobia in the country. There have been a number of homophobic attacks in São Paulo, and a conservative politician, Jair Bolsonaro, said last April that if he had a gay son, he would beat him up until he started to behave "like a man."