“You take an alcoholic,” she said, “someone who cannot get up and go to work and function. Their lifestyle isn’t equal to someone who isn’t an alcoholic.”

Addressing her comment that all religions were not equal, Kern said she stood by her comment.

“When I said that all religions are not equal, I meant that,” she said. “Because as I Christian, I believe what God’s word said. When it says in the Book of John that Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the light.’ If you believe that then all the religions are not equal. Are all faiths equal? No, I don’t think they are. Does everybody have the right to exercise what ever faith and religion they want? Yes they do; and let’s hope and pray that it always stays that way.”

Closing her speech, Kern said Oklahomans had “lost their conservatism,” because Sooners had “forsaken not only morality and ethics but the principles of limited government.”

“That’s what it means for me to be a conservative,” she said. “We need to remember where we came from, because that will determine where we’re going.”

Recently, Kern was the center of more controversy after she attempted — for the second time — to carry a concealed weapon into the state capitol building. Although Kern said she had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, state law forbids bringing weapons into a state agency, or the state Capitol building.