Pastor and mayor commits suicide after being outed for transgender photos; more info has emerged

[MercyA]

So unnecessary and so sad.

"A small-town Alabama pastor and mayor killed himself Friday, days after a local conservative news website published a story that included photos of him wearing women’s clothing and makeup."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/alabama-mayor-bubba-copeland-kills-self-after-right-wing-1819-news-outs-his-cross-dressing

More details:

https://www.wrbl.com/top-stories/lee-county-sheriff-smiths-station-mayor-bubba-copeland-took-his-own-life/

https://www.wtvm.com/2023/11/03/smiths-station-mayor-phenix-city-pastor-commits-suicide-sheriff-confirms/

I can understand his church taking issue with some of his online activities and addressing those privately.

Posting this information publicly for political reasons was just cruel and sick. I doubt we'll see an apology from the news site that did it.

ETA: It appears there is more to this story than it seemed at first glance. He posted photos of others online, including minors, without their permission, and published fiction online about the murder of a local woman whom he specifically named. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by MercyA

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

(Don’t quote)

One of my good friends is very well known in certain professional fields and lives in a small town in a very conservative state.  He enjoys wearing traditional women’s clothing and frequenting certain types of bars.  I am one of the few people in our professional circles that he feels he can confide this to and that makes me sad.  He truly lives in fear someone will recognize him when he’s wearing a dress and makeup and destroy him. 
It’s very very sad to me.  I wish everyone just let everyone else be.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Mrs Tiggywinkle Again

[MEmama]

This is the outcome many people want, and that his colleagues literally pray for.

It is tragic, but not at all surprising. This is what hate does.

[Faith-manor]

So sad. Such a horrible loss. What is this world coming to? I don't know. No one should out other people and make hey of their identity, and no one should feel unsafe. My heart aches.

 

[KSera]

That is so sad. The Daily Beast article is paywalled for me. I can’t tell from the other articles: was there anything he posted that was illegal? I don’t get that idea from the stories. It’s all the more tragic that the welfare stop was the final thing. No way to ever know if he would have pulled himself through this given time and space. And of course had he not had a gun available 😢. 
 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Just now, KSera said:

That is so sad. The Daily Beast article is paywalled for me. I can’t tell from the other articles: was there anything he posted that was illegal? I don’t get that idea from the stories. It’s all the more tragic that the welfare stop was the final thing. No way to ever know if he would have pulled himself through this given time and space. And of course had he not had a gun available 😢. 
 

It doesn’t appear any of it was illegal.  
I believe they were doing a welfare check because someone had concerns that he was suicidal.

[KSera]

Just now, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

It doesn’t appear any of it was illegal.  
I believe they were doing a welfare check because someone had concerns that he was suicidal.

Yeah, that’s the same idea I got. I’m assuming the pornography they refer to is of the legal type or it would have said otherwise. In the clip of him talking from Wednesday he says something about pictures of his wife and I didn’t know what that referred to.

[chiguirre]

The mayor/pastor is a public figure. Anything he posts online is of public interest, particularly if it conflicts with his publicly stated political positions or the doctrine of his denomination. 

He said this in the 1819 article:

He continued, “What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life,” Copeland continued. “Does this have any effect on me being mayor, that I sometimes put on a dress or sometimes put on makeup? Does that have anything to do whatsoever with me being mayor or being a pastor?”

 

I truly don't understand his position. He was a pastor in an SBC church, a denomination that does not support equality for LGBTQ+ people. If he truly believes in their doctrine, he shouldn't have been posting his drag pictures and transgender erotica. If he disagreed with their doctrine, he should have resigned a long time ago. 

I am sad that yet again a gun resulted in a suicide. If he hadn't had ready access to a gun, his family and friends would have had time to help him rebound from the public exposure of his hypocrisy.

[kbutton]

8 minutes ago, KSera said:

Yeah, that’s the same idea I got. I’m assuming the pornography they refer to is of the legal type or it would have said otherwise. In the clip of him talking from Wednesday he says something about pictures of his wife and I didn’t know what that referred to.

https://julieroys.com/alabama-pastor-copeland-posts-explicit-content-online-transgender-woman/ 
 

According to this article, it included minors and fiction about murdering someone that is an IRL person local to him. I can’t figure out how to make a new quote box from my iPhone.

9 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

I truly don't understand his position.

Yeah, this sounds much more complicated than someone who likes to dress and post in drag or is trans.

[MercyA]

12 minutes ago, KSera said:

Yeah, that’s the same idea I got. I’m assuming the pornography they refer to is of the legal type or it would have said otherwise. In the clip of him talking from Wednesday he says something about pictures of his wife and I didn’t know what that referred to.

Are you referring to this quote? He said, "Yes, I have taken pictures with my wife in the privacy of our home in an attempt of humor because I know I’m not a handsome man nor a beautiful woman either." I think he meant he and his wife took the pictures of him together. I haven't seen anything about her being in any of them. 

[MercyA]

34 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

I am sad that yet again a gun resulted in a suicide. If he hadn't had ready access to a gun, his family and friends would have had time to help him rebound from the public exposure of his hypocrisy.

I haven't seen any record of him preaching or personally campaigning against equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, regardless of his church's stance. 

Are we sure his church was part of the SBC? There are plenty of independent Baptist churches out there.

Edited November 4, 2023 by MercyA

[Pawz4me]

I’m conflicted. I don’t like doxxing or hypocrisy.

[MercyA]

4 hours ago, KSera said:

I can’t tell from the other articles: was there anything he posted that was illegal? 

He was accused of posting photos of others without their consent, including minors, and falsely implying that some of the minors had transitioned. Please note that this article is from the conservative site which outed him:

https://1819news.com/news/item/to-say-i-was-a-stalker-would-be-a-bit-of-an-understatement-curvy-transgender-smiths-station-mayor-copeland-wrote-fiction-about-murdering-real-life-local-businesswoman-assuming-her-identity

For those who don't want to click, the article says in part:

Copeland frequently used pictures and details from local residents in his online life. On his Reddit page and elsewhere, he would often post fictional memes featuring young boys and girls with the illusion that the young people in the memes were one person who had undergone a gender transition.

One meme featured a local brother and sister, at least one of which is a minor, with the caption, "Take the shots, get implants, become the whore." The meme was designed to give the impression that the young boy had transitioned into a young girl.

After the initial story ran, the father of the two children contacted 1819 News, asking the picture to be removed to protect the children's privacy. The image of the minor boy appears to have been taken from the father's social media, as it is currently featured there.

One featured picture is a meme, once again created with the illusion that the two people in the picture are one and the same, having undergone a gender change.

In reality, the two pictures are of English actor Alex Pettyfer when he was very young and a popular social media personality and Jamie Andries, who was a 15-year-old cheerleader when the picture featured in the meme was taken.

One woman contacted 1819 News saying she had discovered her social media postings on one such porn site. The woman, whose name is being withheld for privacy, said that she knew Copeland from when she was young and living in the area but had not seen him in years.

"[S]omeone came across one of his sites that he posts on, and he's posted photos of myself! Now my photos (from Facebook) are on all of these nude/porn sites," she said.

1819 News was able to verify the existence of the photographs on the porn websites.

Edited November 5, 2023 by MercyA

[HomeAgain]

Hate kills.

Self righteousness murders others.

Organized religion helps both of these to prosper and flourish.

 

I am so sad that this was not a safe enough world for him to be who he was.  I am so sorry he felt shoved into a box, feared being outed, and had his worst fears realized.  Those who did this to him should be condemned.

[MercyA]

This appears to be a case in which both sides did wrong and hurtful things. 😞 

Edited November 4, 2023 by MercyA

[Innisfree]

It’s a tragedy that he didn’t live in a society where he was safe being himself. It’s also a tragedy that he didn’t process the fact that the church where he ministered encouraged the intolerance that killed him, and endangers others. He sounds like he hadn’t resolved the contradictions in his life. Poor guy; I feel for him and his family.

[pinball]

It sounds much more complicated than a guy who was outed for cross-dressing.

He posted a story about murdering a female neighbor and taking over her life *with her actual name and occupation.*

He also posted pictures on minors and wrote memes about them changing their sex.

If this is accurate…

What “society” would be OK with this? I’m more worried about a “world” where this behavior is acceptable.

Suicide is heartbreaking. I wish for him and for his family’s sake he hadn’t done this. I also feel awful for the police bc it sounds like they witnessed it. 

[chiguirre]

3 hours ago, MercyA said:

I haven't seen any record of him preaching or personally campaigning against equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, regardless of his church's stance. 

Are we sure his church was part of the SBC? There are plenty of independent Baptist churches out there.

I googled it and it's SBC. Doesn't the SBC require their pastors to follow their doctrine?

[MercyA]

38 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

I googled it and it's SBC. Doesn't the SBC require their pastors to follow their doctrine?

SBC churches are autonomous. Each church chooses their own pastors and have their own requirements for those pastors.

[Heartstrings]

It doesn’t sound like he was a very nice person, but it’s still terribly sad.  

[MercyA]

1 hour ago, pinball said:

It sounds much more complicated than a guy who was outed for cross-dressing.

3 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

It doesn’t sound like he was a very nice person, but it’s still terribly sad.  

Yes and yes.

[Ting Tang]

Hmm, I was very sad when I first read this.  But the more I've read, he sounds like he was a narcissistic evil person.  

[KSera]

It definitely sounds like the situation was more disturbing than some of the first reporting sounded. The stuff with minors is not just his own private business, and sounds illegal, and the story thing using the neighbor’s real name is super creepy. The whole thing is a sad story. I’m sorry for his family. 

[maize]

He sounds mentally ill, unstable, and severely lacking in boundaries.

He needed actual quality mental health treatment; unfortunately the chances he would have accepted and complied with such even were they available to him are small. 

Suicide is always tragic.

That's about all I have to say. What a mess and I feel bad for all the people who have been impacted by either his inappropriate behavior or his death.

[DawnM]

9 hours ago, chiguirre said:

I googled it and it's SBC. Doesn't the SBC require their pastors to follow their doctrine?

To a certain extent, yes.

8 hours ago, MercyA said:

SBC churches are autonomous. Each church chooses their own pastors and have their own requirements for those pastors.

While that is true, the SBC have an overarching doctrine to follow.   

[DawnM]

5 hours ago, maize said:

He sounds mentally ill, unstable, and severely lacking in boundaries.

He needed actual quality mental health treatment; unfortunately the chances he would have accepted and complied with such even were they available to him are small. 

Suicide is always tragic.

That's about all I have to say. What a mess and I feel bad for all the people who have been impacted by either his inappropriate behavior or his death.

He did need mental health help, but he also should have stepped down from leadership....political and spiritual, if he couldn't handle some pressure.   What did he think would happen by posting porn and minors and the neighbor's murder?   You can't say you espouse one thing and act out a different way and expect everyone to just say, "Oh, that's fine."

If I were at his church and found out he posted porn, porn with minors, etc.....you better believe I would ask him to be removed from leadership or I would leave the church.   I also wouldn't vote for anyone who posted such things.

[SanDiegoMom]

This event really just illustrates how 1. news agencies jump out way too fast to report before they have all the details, and 2. It's pretty hard to get an accurate account of something when the news is automatically so slanted.  Many right wing online news sources are so happy to pounce on this for its salaciousness.  Left wing news sources attempt to paint him as a martyr who couldn't live his true life due to conservative environment and as proof that trans-identified people are killing themselves due to lack of acceptance.  The reality is much more nuanced, and honestly,  WHY does it have to become national news? 

[Ottakee]

I feel for his wife.   My situation was not quite like this and my ex is in prison for some of the same type things.   It is horrible as it is big in the media and his family is suffering in all kind of ways.   They have grief and loss but likely also shame and anger.

[Faith-manor]

45 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

I feel for his wife.   My situation was not quite like this and my ex is in prison for some of the same type things.   It is horrible as it is big in the media and his family is suffering in all kind of ways.   They have grief and loss but likely also shame and anger.

Yes. This is where my sympathies are. It is horrible for the family when someone commits suicide, and then under these circumstances it is even worse. Reading more about him made me lose my compassion for him though I really do not want to see anyone do this devastating act.

[lauraw4321]

19 hours ago, MercyA said:

SBC churches are autonomous. Each church chooses their own pastors and have their own requirements for those pastors.

Except you get kicked out of SBC if you ordain women. SBC likes to have its cake and eat it too. 

[Ting Tang]

I dunno, you can have conservative views and not be a horrible person.  Sounds like this guy crossed that line.  

[DawnM]

16 hours ago, SanDiegoMom said:

This event really just illustrates how 1. news agencies jump out way too fast to report before they have all the details, a 2. It's pretty hard to get an accurate account of something when the news is automatically so slanted.  Many right wing online news sources are so happy to pounce on this for its salaciousness.  Left wing news sources attempt to paint him as a martyr who couldn't live his true life due to conservative environment and as proof that trans-identified people are killing themselves due to lack of acceptance.  The reality is much more nuanced, and honestly,  WHY does it have to become national news? 

#1- this has been the case since the advent of 24 hour news sources like CNN.   They have to have a story to keep going.

#2-I can't find too many news sources that aren't slanted, but I try to look at both sides.   I would think that right wing sources would be more apt to hide it to cover one of "their own."   They certainly do that with conservative politicians!   

#3- (I know you didn't have a 3, this is mine) I don't get the idea of the left......he lives in the USA, he can just leave the church, go live his "true identity" outside of the church.   However, the child porn is bad all the way around!   I think that is what sparked the story to be on the national news.

[Danae]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

#1- this has been the case since the advent of 24 hour news sources like CNN.   They have to have a story to keep going.

#2-I can't find too many news sources that aren't slanted, but I try to look at both sides.   I would think that right wing sources would be more apt to hide it to cover one of "their own."   They certainly do that with conservative politicians!   

#3- (I know you didn't have a 3, this is mine) I don't get the idea of the left......he lives in the USA, he can just leave the church, go live his "true identity" outside of the church.   However, the child porn is bad all the way around!   I think that is what sparked the story to be on the national news.

Have you seen sources that actually say there was child porn involved?  Everything I’ve seen says that he posted pictures of boy-girl pairs implying they were the same person.  Taking pics of a child from their parent’s Facebook page and incorporating them in your memes is wrong, but it’s not in any way porn.  The article linked above has the faces blocked out, but the teens are fully clothed.  
 

The article also says that pictures he took from an adult woman’s Facebook page ended up on a porn site, but she was upset that her photos from her own social media were on a site with nudity and porn, not that her pics were porn.

It seems like the author is trying very hard to imply there was sexual abuse of minors happening by putting statements about photos of minors next to statements about websites with porn, but it’s all innuendo and implication. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Danae

[KSera]

37 minutes ago, Danae said:

Have you seen sources that actually say there was child porn involved?

The Julieroys website article above said that he “posted pictures of local residents, including minors, on porn sites.” I have zero idea if it makes sense to think those were not of an illegal nature. I think posting pictures of kids of any kind at all on a site like that is highly problematic and wrong, even if not illegal. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about Julie Roys and her biases. She says that information is from 1819.)

[Danae]

40 minutes ago, KSera said:

The Julieroys website article above said that he “posted pictures of local residents, including minors, on porn sites.” I have zero idea if it makes sense to think those were not of an illegal nature. I think posting pictures of kids of any kind at all on a site like that is highly problematic and wrong, even if not illegal. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about Julie Roys and her biases. She says that information is from 1819.)

 

 

Julieroys says that 1819 says that, but when you click through to the 1819 article it actually says “Additionally, accounts bearing Copeland's pseudonym posted pictures of Copeland in various stages of undress on several pornography websites. Other sites included one of the memes featuring a minor. ”

and 

“The sites contain other images posted from Brittini Blair's Reddit account, but 1819 News could not ascertain the age or identity of those featured.”

It’s trying very hard to imply, but I tend to think if there were actual child sex abuse photos involved they would have said so.  It doesn’t even actually say that the “other sites” where the meme with the (fully clothed) minors was found were porn sites.  They just placed that sentence after the one about Copeland’s own photos on porn sites.  

[KSera]

4 minutes ago, Danae said:

 

 

Julieroys says that 1819 says that, but when you click through to the 1819 article it actually says “Additionally, accounts bearing Copeland's pseudonym posted pictures of Copeland in various stages of undress on several pornography websites. Other sites included one of the memes featuring a minor. ”

and 

“The sites contain other images posted from Brittini Blair's Reddit account, but 1819 News could not ascertain the age or identity of those featured.”

It’s trying very hard to imply, but I tend to think if there were actual child sex abuse photos involved they would have said so.  It doesn’t even actually say that the “other sites” where the meme with the (fully clothed) minors was found were porn sites.  They just placed that sentence after the one about Copeland’s own photos on porn sites.  

Thanks for the clarification. I’m picky about clicking on things and chose not to click over to 1819. 

[pinball]

25 minutes ago, KSera said:

chose not to click over to 1819

🙄

but the daily beast is just peachy. ROFL

[KSera]

4 hours ago, pinball said:

🙄

but the daily beast is just peachy. ROFL

I’m sure we all pick and choose our poison to various degrees. The Daily Beast isn’t where I would head for reliable information, but I don’t have any particular moral problem with it. It’s just not great source. 

eta: further, since you clearly were paying attention, you’ll notice I said the Daily Beast is paywalled for me. That’s because I use an ad blocker and the Daily Beast isn’t a site I’m willing to turn off my ad blocker for. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by KSera

[pinball]

14 minutes ago, KSera said:

I’m sure we all pick and choose our poison to various degrees. The Daily Beast isn’t where I would head for reliable information, but I don’t have any particular moral problem with it. It’s just not great source. 

eta: further, since you clearly were paying attention, you’ll notice I said the Daily Beast is paywalled for me. That’s because I use an ad blocker and the Daily Beast isn’t a site I’m willing to turn off my ad blocker for. 

Hmmm….how would you know if it was paywalled unless you clicked on it? 

 I figured you must have clicked on it bc it was an A-OK peachy keen site…unlike the 1819 site which is just toooo what? Alabama-y? for you?