The right-wing Australian politician and clergyman - who famously encouraged his flock to pray for rain when each Sydney Mardi Gras came around - has announced he won't be standing for re-election in 2015, ending a career spanning three decades.
Fred Nile, 75, is the founder of the Christian Democratic Party in New South Wales, and has been in the Legislative Council since 1981 - its longest serving member.
Nile was often quoted as saying homosexuality was a "lifestyle choice" which he disagreed with, labelling same-sex activity "immoral, unnatural and abnormal."
He described Sydney's iconic Mardi Gras Parade as "a public parade of immorality and blasphemy" which reinforced "the worst stereotypes."
