It will gladly play host to giant cruise ships on its canals and hordes of tourists along its narrow, winding streets. But the city of Venice will not see fit to hold a gay pride parade as long as the current rightwing mayor is in charge, the politician has reportedly said.

Luigi Brugnaro, a businessman who was elected mayor on a centre-right ticket in June, was quoted as saying that gay pride marches were the “height of kitsch” and would not happen in Venice on his watch. “There will never be a gay pride in my city,” he was quoted as saying in La Repubblica. “Let them go and do it in Milan, or in front of their own homes.”

Brugnaro, who had a public row this month with British rock star Elton John over family values, was criticised by Italy’s rights group Arcigay, which accused him of besmirching Venice’s reputation as an open, sophisticated society.

“Venice is not his city. At the moment he is governing it, but he won’t last long given the fool he is making of himself,” said Arcigay’s president, Flavio Romani. “He is becoming obsessive about this. Venice does not deserve it.”

Arcigay holds gay pride parades in numerous Italian cities each year, last visiting Venice in 2014.

Brugnaro sparked a controversy soon after taking office by banning books featuring same-sex couples from the city schools.

Elton John, who has two children with his partner, David Furnish, used his Instagram page this month to condemn the move, calling Brugnaro “boorishly bigoted”. The mayor told the singer to keep out of Venice’s business.

Brugnaro’s comments come at a time when the government is struggling to pass legislation that would finally give legal recognition to same-sex couples in predominantly Roman Catholic Italy.

Italy is the only major western European country that does not recognise either civil partnerships or gay marriage. Despite prodding from the European court of human rights, some centre-right parties are digging their heels in to snarl progress on the long-delayed law.

“It is a national scandal,” Romani said. “Sadly in this country, some politicians listen more to what the bishops tell them rather than what society is saying.”