PROVO, Utah, Oct. 4, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah County candidate in the news over negative Facebook comments about the suicide death of a gay teenager said the most recent anti-gay social media post attributed to him actually comes from a fake account set up by someone who used his name and photograph.
Jason Christensen, running as an American Independent for the Utah Senate in District 16, said he did respond to a post about the death of Braxton David Taylor with comments labeling the deceased a sinner because of his alleged homosexuality, and a murderer because of his suicide, but Christensen later did multiple media interviews apologizing to Taylor’s family.
City Weekly posted a Sept. 30 interview with Christensen, who joked that he suffered from “foot-in-mouth disease.” Christensen told City Weekly that, although they have never met, he loves the family of the deceased 19-year-old.
“I hope they can get through this troubling time,” Christensen reportedly said. “I hope they can forgive me.”
Over time, Christensen said, he hopes all involved will “grow spiritually from it, as brothers and sisters,” he told the weekly.
“I hope people in the district can look deep into their hearts and say, ‘Yeah, that was just a Trump moment, but he means well,’” said Christensen, who reportedly has received hundreds of death threats after his original post went viral.
But another anti-gay comment appeared the next day, Oct. 1, on a Facebook account that bore Christensen’s name and image. That post said, in part, that gays should seek conversion therapy so they could be normal and avoid going to hell.
State Bureau of Investigation agent Eric Davies said Christensen contacted him to report the fake Facebook page, and to file a complaint. Davies said he will be trying to determine where and with whom the second Facebook account in Christensen’s name appeared.
Christensen’s real page is located at JasonChristensenForSenate. His real campaign web page, with additional information about his beliefs and candidacy, is JasonThePatriot.com.
The Facebook page Christensen says is false and was set up by someone else is at JasonThePatriotForUtahSenate.
Davies said he is just starting the investigation, and cannot yet confirm that the second account is fake, or who is responsible for it. Davies did say the account has some posts that seem childish to him, and it is quite likely that it is is fake.
