N.C. Anti-Marriage Equality Initiative Proponent Dies

North Carolina state senator Jim Forrester, leading supporter of a ballot initiative to constitutionally ban marriage equality in the state, has died at age 74.

The Associated Press reports that Sen. Forrester died Monday at Gastonia Memorial Hospital in Gastonia, N.C. after "multiple health problems." Forrester is survived by his wife, Mary Frances, and their four children.

A 20-year veteran of the state senate who became deputy senate leader this year, Forrester, a physician, had said in recent weeks that LGBT advocates were "working to discredit" him, in part after reports surfaced that he had misrepresented his medical credentials.

North Carolina voters will decide in May whether to ban marriage rights for gays and lesbians under the state constitution.

Read the AP report here, via Greensboro News & Record.