Utah Senate Hopeful: Possibly Gay Teen Who Died By Suicide ‘Committed Sins of Homosexuality and Murder’

‘One Must Live in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Not the Gospel of the Devil’ Says Jason Christensen

Utah Senate candidate Jason Christensen is drawing criticism for his commentary on a reportedly LGBT teenager’s suicide after he called him a sinner for being a homosexual and a murderer for taking his own life. Christensen, in response to the viral screenshot of the post seen below, has restricted the public’s access to his social media accounts.

“Yes this is sad,” Christensen wrote on a post linking to 19-year-old Braxton David Taylor’s obituary. “…hopefully God will have mercy on both sins that this boy committed. The sins of homosexuality and the sins of murder.”

“It wasn’t murder,” one commenter wrote, calling for Christensen to show respect. The Utah Senate hopeful then inquired what it was called when a life was taken, before answering, “it’s still murder.” The full exchange can be seen below:

While it has not been officially reported that the late Braxton David Taylor was in fact LGBT, Facebook threads like the one that led to Christenson’s commentary, as well as a Reddit post, have asserted it as fact.

As users on Reddit called for an end to Christensen’s political career, which his website asserts is little more than a 2008 “political awakening” and his work on “numerous campaigns,” a moderator closed the discussion to further commentary. “While this guy is a public figure and obviously a horrible human being,” the moderator wrote, “we cannot condone a witch hunt and will be removing all additional contact information and  [are] temporarily banning anyone [from] sharing it.”

Christensen, who is running as an independent, has “committed [himself] to the everlasting principles of freedom and to the defense of the God-inspired U.S. Constitution.” 

He’s written on the “supra-vocal-minority of the LGBTQ community, and their agenda,” citing that he “would eliminate all marriage laws and push to return to the Common Law marriage practices, for the un-religious, and truly restore the Freedom of Marriage to all institutions of faith and religions.”

While Taylor’s religion has also not been reported, an ex-Mormon support group known as a “Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum” further discussed the young college student’s death, calling it the “latest LGBT suicide.”

“Has anyone any idea how many of these tragic suicides have happened since the November policy?” one commenter wrote. As NCRM has reported, Utah’s youth suicide rate has nearly tripled since 2007, and in the three months following the policy in question – the  Mormon Church’s  declaration that same-sex couples would be known as apostates – 32 reported-LGBT youth had committed suicide.

“Read the scriptures,” Christensen insisted before he was blocked by the obituary’s original poster. “Stop denying the scriptures… One must recognize what’s sin and what is not sin. One must live in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not the Gospel of the Devil.”

Taylor’s obituary reads that he died “at the much-too-young age of 19” on September 23, 2016, was attending Weber State University as a business major, and worked at Forever 21. He enjoyed “filling his time with art and music… loved fashion and was known for his unique and adorable style.”

“[He] personally called himself ‘Spinster Chic,’” it reads. “He will forever be remembered for his great hair, infectious smile, bright blue eyes, contagious laughter, and perfect hugs.”

 

If you or a loved one are in crisis or in need of immediate support, please call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

You can also contact the nation’s only 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBT and questioning youth ages 13-24 at 1-866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) or the GLBT National Help Center at 1-888-THE-GLNH (888-843-4564).

 

Image via Facebook