He came out to students before a newspaper was able to.

A gay teacher in Zimbabwe has resigned after he came out to students last week and received death threats as a result.

Neal Hovelmeier was deputy head for St. John’s College, a high school for boys ages 12 to 18, where he had worked there for the past 15 years. The decision came ahead of a Zimbabwean newspaper’s planned expose outing him, according to a letter from the school’s chairman, BBC reports.

The teacher decided to come out himself to the entire student body on September 21, through a statement read out by the school.

Former students had told him they felt intimidated and discriminated against at the school due to its homophobic atmosphere, he wrote in that statement, adding he felt he had to deal with the situation with openness and transparency himself.

The news of his coming out resulted in upset from many of the parents at the school, including from some who went so far as to hire a law firm and threaten legal action if the board did not resign.

The letter read that the teacher’s decision to come out “has no place whatsoever in a school environment where they are minors, who look up to your staff as their life models as they exercise their role,” and pointed out that gay sex among men is illegal in the country.

The parents’ legal representatives said their clients therefore reserved “a right to place criminal charges” against Hovelmeier.

On September 24, an emergency parents meeting was held that devolved into yelling, as can be seen in the footage below.

Chaos at St Johns College parents meeting over gay form 6 teacher, Neal Hovelmeier who announced his sexuality to students at an assembly – 24 September 2018 #Zimbabwe pic.twitter.com/5vG2XY9uY6 — Povo Zim (@povozim) September 25, 2018

On that same day, the school’s chairman, Charles Msipa, sent a letter to parents saying they were forced to make the announcement about the teacher’s sexual orientation because of the paper’s intention to publicize the matter. Msipa wrote the school thought it best to “communicate directly to stakeholders in an open, transparent manner.”

In his resignation letter, Hovelmeier said he would not subject himself to a “sham trial,” while also apologizing for “any distress I have caused.”

He added that he had “unfortunately come under vitriolic attack from various quarters,” and had received “death threats as well as well as threats of physical danger to myself and my pets,” and noted that he was leaving with “a heavy heart.”

Please read Dr Neal Hovelmeier's letter of resignation addressed to parents and stakeholders. #LGBTQtwitter #LGBTQ #Pride pic.twitter.com/FpiySxM4AN — This Is Africa (@ThisIsAfricaTIA) September 27, 2018