Backers for anti-gay Oklahoma state Representative Sally Kern have called her transgender rival Brittany Novotny “a confused 'it,'” gay weekly the Dallas Voice reported.

Novotny is challenging Kern, the woman best known for saying gay folks were the “biggest threat our nation has” at a 2008 gathering of Republicans, for the seat she's held since 2005.

In an email to members of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC), the group's president, Charlie Meadows, calls Novotny “a confused 'it'” and suggests she hates God.

“Brittany used to be a 'he,' had a sex change operation to make him into a 'her' but turned out to become a confused 'it.' Some have suggested that having a sex change operation is a person's greatest act of rebellion and hatred toward God for His making them what they were,” Meadows wrote in the email.

“The hatred and rage toward Sally [Kern] continues unabated in the homosexual community because Sally dared to declare their political agenda for what it truly is, more dangerous to the future of America than the threat of terrorism.”

Novotny, who posted the email on her campaign website, responded by saying Oklahomans are tired of such attacks.

“This type of personal attack is what Oklahomans are tired of, and it shows why Kern and her political allies continue to be out of touch with mainstream Oklahoma values,” she said.

While Kern faced stiff criticism from gay rights groups for her comments, the media attention turned the politician into an overnight right-wing celebrity. And the 63-year-old Baptist minister's wife has continued to speak out against gay rights.

Earlier this year at the John Birch Society's Clouds Over America conference, Kern called for a new “Great Awakening” to defend America against the gay rights movement, which she called the “gay agenda.”

“We need a spiritual revival, and that will only come if God's people, especially you pastors, will stand in your pulpits and vocally preach the word of God and thus declare the Lord this sin, and preach it in love, only then does our nation have a chance of overcoming the scourge of AIDS, HIV and the devastating destruction that the homosexual lifestyle is bringing on your children and grandchildren.”