A prominent gay congressman in Brazil announced on Thursday that he was leaving his job and fleeing the country because of increased death threats made against him.

Jean Wyllys, the country's first openly gay congressman, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that he had left Brazil and was going to work in academia, with no plans to return home.

"Preserving a life under threat is also a strategy to fight for better days," Wyllys wrote on Twitter with a link to the article.