AP

The president of the Iowa and Nebraska conference of NAACP branches has resigned over the group's national board resolution to support gay marriage.

Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr. resigned from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and as president of the state conference.

Ratliff, of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, has long opposed gay-marriage. He said he was struggling with the group's endorsement made during a leadership retreat in Miami last month and was uncertain about his future with the NAACP.

The Iowa/Nebraska Conference includes Ames, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines and Sioux City in Iowa and Nebraska
branches in Lincoln and Omaha.