A senator in Columbia has launched a homophobic tirade in the country’s parliament and has said gay sex is “excremental” and deserves “condemnation”.

74-year-old Senator Roberto Gerlein made the comments at a congressional discussion of a proposed equal marriage bill on Tuesday and also declared that gay men have smaller brains.

According to Columbia Reports, Mr Gerlien said that sex between men is “dirty, repulsive, it is sex that deserves condemnation and is excremental sex.”

In a rant that last for nearly twenty minutes, Mr Gerlien went on to say:

“The homosexual has a smaller hypothalamus (a portion of the brain), it is a condition that comes imprinted in the biology of the homosexual, he has no way to remove it, he can visit all the psychiatrists and will still have no way to take it out. It is bad luck that nature imposes this burden on someone, because being homosexual is a burden.”

Mr Gerlien went on to claim he was not homophobic and that he accepted gay Colombians “because they are people” and also had “highly intelligent homosexual friends.”

The speech caused outrage among fellow lawmakers.

Senator Armando Benedetti who has proposed the equal marriage bill responded to Mr Gerlein’s diatribe, describing it as “discriminatory” and “xenophobic.”