Jean Wyllys, the Socialism and Liberty party congressman of Brazil whose third term was to start in February, announced last Thursday that he is resigning his seat to avoid possible assassination.

“For the future of this cause,” Wyllys said in an interview, “I have to stay alive. I don’t want to be a martyr.”

Wyllys, the second Brazilian congressman ever to be openly gay and the only incumbent one, has always been facing death threats. However, following the inauguration of homophobic president Jair Bolsonaro in January and assassination of fellow human rights activist Marielle Franco in March, the threats have become more serious.

““I never believed the death threats against me would actually be carried out,” Wyllys said. “But when this execution of Marielle happened, I had a sense of the seriousness.”