PARAGUAY: Presidential Candidate Says He'd Shoot Himself If His Son Were Gay

Paraguay will hold its presidential election this Sunday and leading candidate Horacio Cartes has sparked a furor with ugly statements on gay rights.

[Cartes] set off a fierce controversy here after publicly comparing gay people to “monkeys” and likening the support of same-sex marriage to believing in “the end of the world.” In a radio interview this month, Mr. Cartes, 57, theatrically threatened to inflict harm on his own private parts if his 28-year-old son were to seek to marry another man. “I would shoot myself in the testicles, because I do not agree,” he said, using slightly more colorful language to describe how he would react to such a possibility.

Cartes' opponent also opposes same-sex marriage but says that he's open to discussion on the issue, which has become a hot topic locally after nearby Uruguay legalized gay marriage earlier this month. A Paraguayan LGBT rights group has demanded that Cartes apologize.