A Utah state Senate candidate is under fire for anti-gay comments made to someone mourning the suicide of a gay teenager. Utah politician Jason Christensen took it upon himself to lecture a woman (rather than offer condolences) over the suicide of Braxton Taylor – a 19-year-old gay man who committed suicide recently. The conversation has since gone viral on Reddit.

In a post to Facebook lamenting on the loss, Ali Dryg said “This beautiful boy lived in Kaysville and shared the same zip code as I do. He attended the same jr. high school as my children, and was just nineteen years old.”

Responding to her Facebook post, Christensen wrote, “Yes this is sad, and hopefully God will have mercy on both sins that this boy committed. The sins of homosexuality and the sins of murder.”

Dryg initially offered a polite response saying, “It wasn’t murder, it was suicide. Please show some respect.

At this point Christensen doubled down. “When you take a life what do you call it? It’s still murder,” he said.

Point of clarification here. Murder is technically the killing of another human being. It’s literally a distinct act from suicide. That’s not the point though; badgering a person mourning a teenager’s suicide was.

Justifiably angry, Dryg responded, “Jason Christensen get off my thread now. Not able to block you now but will asap. How dare you! Get the hell off!” She added, “I hope God forgives you your judgement [sic], ignorance and cruelty. You sir are an example of all that is wrong with religion.”

Responding with the kind of smug condescension only an anti-gay Christian conservative can muster, Christensen said, “

One must also doubt the sincerity of that “feel bad” statement based solely on how he badgered this poor, grieving women beating her brow with his religious beliefs.

Immediately after being asked to stop harassing someone during her time of grief and mourning, Christensen took to his own Facebook page and exclaimed, “Don’t you love how intolerant the left actually is?”

This is the America Donald Trump is envisioning, people. A nation where politicians harass and belittle people for mourning the death of teenagers gone before their time. A nation where men like Christensen push their Dominionist Christian beliefs on others and then proclaim themselves the victims when asked to stop being harassers.

We reached out by phone and email to Christensen’s offices for comment but were unsuccessful in obtaining an official comment. In the meantime, You can read Braxton Taylor’s obituary here.

[H/T RawStory]

[Note: the original version of this story incorrectly identified Christensen as a GOP candidate whereas he is running as an independent against the GOP incumbent.]

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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