The Associated Press:

The widow of a lawmaker who was the driving force behind a gay marriage referendum on next month's ballot in North Carolina told thousands of conservative Christians on Friday it's now up to them to get people to the polls to change the state constitution.

Mary Frances Forrester and other conservative leaders asked participants at the Return America rally to work to protect the supremacy of traditional marriage from potential court challenges.

...Forrester, wife of the late Sen. Jim Forrester, asked women in the audience to recruit others to vote for the amendment leading up to the May 8 primary. The early voting period began Thursday.

"You are responsible for nine other women that you can make sure go to the polls and vote and better still vote early because this is the time and you are here 'for such a time is this,'" said Forrester, making a reference to a verse in the Book of Esther.

State Capitol Police estimated the crowd in downtown Raleigh at about 3,000, as churches and Christian schools bused in members and students to the Halifax Mall.