Parents force homosexual teacher to resign

Adrian Blomfield

Peta Thornycroft

A TEACHER at a prestigious private school in Zimbabwe was forced to resign yesterday after his admission that he was gay prompted a furious backlash from parents. Neal Hovelmeier, one of two deputy headmasters at St John’s College, Harare, said he had been left no choice but to quit after threats were made against him and his dogs and a vocal section of the parent body threatened legal action.

At an emergency school meeting, some black parents stood up to denounce the teacher, with one shouting: “We are afraid that our children will be recruited into homosexuality.” The row highlights a racial divide over how homosexuality is viewed in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, whose son attended St John’s, disparaged gays when he was president as “worse than pigs and dogs”. The country’s white minority is generally more tolerant.