Nineteen moving stages dotted the avenue with live performances by well-known Brazilian artists, while supporters cheered speeches by LGBT activists encouraging resistance to the wave of Brazilian conservative politics.

Participants collectively carried a huge rainbow flag down the avenue, with many more sporting rainbow hats, bracelets and T-shirts. The parade was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City.

"Because of all we went through with the election, this is one of the most important pride parades to show that we are here, we are going to continue here to exist and resist," said Diego dos Santos Oliveira, a parade organiser.

Many of those attending took aim at Bolsonaro, who took office as Brazil's president on January 1 and once described himself as a "proud homophobe".

Some parade-goers carried signs calling for the president's ouster. "We won't be in the closet, nor in a grave. Out with Bolsonaro," read one banner.

While Sao Paulo hosts one of the world's largest pride parades and Rio de Janeiro is a well-known gay tourist destination, LGBT people in Brazil suffer high levels of violence. According to activist group Grupo Gay Bahia, 141 LGBT people were killed in homophobic crimes or committed suicide between January and May 15 of this year - an average of one every 23 hours.

Activists say Bolsonaro's anti-gay rhetoric incites or legitimises violence against LGBT people. He once said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son, and he made headlines in April when he told reporters that Brazil "can't be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism."

LGBT activists won a major battle this month when Brazil's Supreme Court criminalised discrimination against homosexuals and transgender people.

Australian Associated Press