GASTONIA, N.C. — Anti-gay state Sen. James Forrester (R-Gaston) passed away at Gaston Memorial Hospital on Monday. The 11-term state senator and retired Air Force brigadier general was 74.
Forrester had several health problems including a heart condition. His family said that he fell ill over the weekend. He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday and placed in its intensive care unit. He passed away when he was removed from life support on Monday.
A family friend released a statement to the Denver, N.C., denverncnews.com on behalf of Forrester’s family.
“It all happened suddenly,” the email read. “Yesterday, they went to the mountains and Jim lost strength in his legs. The doctor advised him to come back to Caromont for some tests.”
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The family friend continued, “We all know how ill he has been, but he continued to work in the Senate. He told Mary Frances (his wife) that he wanted to go out with his boots on and support the causes in which he believed to his last breath.”
Forrester was the chief sponsor of the state’s impending anti-LGBT constitutional amendment banning marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits.
In early October, Forrester, a physician by trade, came under scrutiny for allegedly falsifying some of his credentials. He later proved that he’d been a past, though not current, member in several medical associations.
