Bubba Copeland shot himself in front of police on Friday, days after he begged 1819 News not to expose his private life.
This is a tragedy that should never have happened.
I’m in rural Georgia. If you want to hold any political office at all, you have to be Republican. That’s just the way it is. There’s a Democratic party, and they run candidates in most elections, but they’re doing pretty good when they get more votes than the Libertarian candidates do. So if you want to change shit or do any good at all, you run as a Republican, and you vote in Republican primaries. At a local level, there are definitely people that are trying to do good things that are Republicans, even though they agree with most or all points of the Democratic party.
I haven’t seen any indication that this person–and I don’t know how they privately self-identified–was anti-LGBTQ+, aside from their association with the Republican party.
When you’re in a small town in the south, esp. when you’re involved in small town politics in the south, this kind of thing is a social death sentence. It would likely mean the loss of both of their jobs, and possibly their family.
They didn’t deserve this.
No one deserves this.
The people celebrating their suicide, because they were religious and in local politics as a Republican, should be ashamed of themselves. Trans lives matter, but only as long as they fit in the molds we’ve made for 'em, huh?
My heart goes out to their family.
The more you “they/them” this guy and conflate this with transphobia, the more you equate men with a crossdressing fetish with trans women. He did not deserve this obviously, and kinks are good and nice, but I am really, really over “allies” who constantly equate crossdressers and fetishists with trans people.
We simply don’t know, and they aren’t here to tell us because they’re dead. You are assuming that they were a crossdresser and not transgender, despite the fact that they said otherwise in their online activities.
I’d rather give someone the benefit of the doubt and be wrong.
Guess who just had their face eaten by leopards!
b-but i didn’t think they would eat my face! I thought they would eat everyone elses face!
Hours before Copeland’s death, Hemant Mehta, who runs the popular religion blog Friendly Atheist, noted that Copeland did not appear to have bigoted views toward transgender people or people who simply enjoy cross-dressing.
“There’s a story making the rounds about an Alabama preacher/mayor who secretly dresses in drag and adopts the persona of a trans woman on social media,” Mehta tweeted. “The problem? It’s not clear he’s a hypocrite. If he’s not a bigot, why is he being outed?”
Mehta tweeted. “The problem? It’s not clear he’s a hypocrite. If he’s not a bigot, why is he being outed?”
Maybe we shouldn’t be outing anyone. One’s personal sexuality isn’t anybody else’s business. Even if one is a bigot.
nah, if you’re an elected political official with power over other peoples lives, and you’re a bigot, it’s open fuckin season, and i’d recommend outting every single last goddamned one of them
Except he wasn’t outed as a bigot. He was outed as “not a bigot”.
All Republicans are hypocritical bigots, by definition. It’s the core of their political party, it’s who they signed up to be identified with, it’s who they are, or in the case of this poor bigoted fuck, were. I don’t want to see any “but this was a nice republican” bullshit. After the Southern Strategy in 1964, all Republicans are trash, every single one.
Institutionalized racism, misogyny, homophobia, and white Christian separatism as party platform. No matter how “conservative” Republicans claimed to be, The Southern Strategy was the core value and singular driving force for the past 60 years. MAGA isn’t a symptom, it’s result.
Maybe the politicians, I could agree with that, but most Republican voters are not on board with the southern strategy and all of this other stuff.
All the majority know is that they hate Democrats, and that is why they vote the way they do. Human beings are creatures of habit after all.
Besides, even if a group of people are doing bad things en masse, it’s ultimately counterproductive to lump the followers in with the leaders. It makes it harder for the followers to break from the leaders that are leading them down the wrong path.
I am anti-republican politics, and I don’t get along with Republican voters, but I’m not going to call the guy at the gas station evil because he votes Republican because his dad voted Republican because his dad voted Republican.
I didn’t vote for the Nazis to kill the Jews, I just wanted my taxes lowered :(
Imagine taking your own life over this shit because your devotion to right wing identity politics supercedes your self-determination.
Most comments here are horribly bigoted and disgusting honestly
Pro-life crowd bullying other people into suicide is very funny indeed
He added that it would “not cause my life to change.”
Well, that was wrong. /s
Seriously, though… it’s almost as though being a member of a hate-group (conservatism) results in terrible outcomes when you’re on the outs with said group.
How weird to see where I went to school on the news in this way and yet rather unsurprising given the culture in the area.
Also a pastor, “shot himself in front of police during a welfare check.” It also appears that his wife was aware and involved with the hobby (not with the suicide), presumably in a supporting way.
I may disagree very strongly with this guy’s politics, but fuck the assholes who make this shameful.
You’d think some empathy would be in order. However, judging from the comments made on the bird website, many people are actually proud of this happening.
These are the assholes who make it shameful.
'Ol Bubba knew the wolves would turn on him.
But anyway, what is with this. Is it that this secretive cross-dressing thing seems correlated with repressed sexual desires or what?
JCS covered that one Canadian colonel serial killer who would cross-dress, sneaking into women’s homes.
Then I just watched this 48 Hours case about a dad who killed his son after they found pictures of him cross-dressing and literally eating his own shit.
Wtf?
The blog reported that Copeland, a Republican, confirmed that the accounts were run by him, saying they were a “hobby” he used for “getting rid of stress.” 1819 News reported that Copeland asked them to not out him, but they did so anyway, even though it does not appear he had taken any public positions against LGBTQ issues that could be construed as hypocritical.
even though it does not appear he had taken any public positions against LGBTQ issues that could be construed as hypocritical.‘’
Being GOP and anywhere on the LGBTQIA spectrum is inherently hypocritical.
This is tragic but I feel like shaking the people trying to shame or guilt the ones who outed and ridiculed the Mayor.
“Are you happy now?”
Yes, of course they are. The cruelty is the point.
All Republicans are hypocritical bigots, by definition. It’s the core of their political party, it’s who they signed up to be identified with, it’s who they are, or in the case of this poor bigoted fuck, were. I don’t want to see any “but this was a nice republican” bullshit. After the Southern Strategy in 1964, all Republicans are trash, every single one.
Institutionalized racism, misogyny, homophobia, and white Christian separatism as party platform. No matter how “conservative” Republicans claimed to be, The Southern Strategy was the core value and singular driving force for the past 60 years. MAGA isn’t a symptom, it’s result.
Such compassion! At least he wasn’t Palestinian amirite? /s because it’s needed
The people who make a /s like this necessary should be banned from the internet for a month at a time.
it’s never necessary
In this case, just plain banned.
Yo what’s up with lemmy’s being psychos saying they don’t care he died since he was a republican
The man was publicly humiliated (by his standards) to the whole world and ya’ll encourage it?
Whoever published the blog should be sentenced.
1819 News published the username to Copeland’s Reddit and Instagram accounts, writing that he posed “in various outfits, some more racy than others.” The blog also said that Copeland used the pseudonym “Brittini Blaire Summerlin” and posted pornography and advice on chemically transitioning.
So he wasn’t just cross-dressing, he was actively interested in transitioning, to the point that he was able to advise others. He also apparently did not have overt anti-LGBTQIA+ values, beyond being a member of the GOP.
Honestly, I’m sad for him, and for his family who apparently knew and loved him as he was. In a small town, you often don’t get to choose unless you choice involves moving away, and sometimes you just get trapped. I get the sense he was one of these: a good person, trapped not just in the wrong body but in the wrong town, where you’re either a church-goin’ Trumper or openly hated and ostracized.
I know there will be a lot of cheer about leopard face eating and karmic retribution, but I won’t be joining in this time. If he were full in he’d have made open anti-LGBTQIA+ statements instead of embracing it, albeit anonymously, in his online personas. No leopard here. I feel nothing but sorrow for this man and his family.
But the rest of the small minded fucks in his small minded town who were laughing and pointing? And the asshole who outed him? Now THAT’S a different story, and I hope their laughter becomes a curse to them.
He also apparently did not have overt anti-LGBTQIA+ values, beyond being a member of the GOP.
Yes and (?) was never antisemitic, beyond being member of the nazi party. (???)
If you are part of a party that stands STAUNCHELY against queers, you don’t deserve solidarity for being queer.
You can blame that on the US’s bipartisan system rather than the multiparty system it is supposed to be.
What other option would he have, the democrats? What if there are things that they did he didn’t agree with either? 3rd party is out the window because it would take minimum 2 elections to get their candidate in office.
Oh no, poor guy had literally no choice but to participate in a corrupt system by going into politics and becoming a mayor 😭
Get the fuck outta here.
Ah yes, you shouldn’t go into politics to make the changes you would like to see because the “system is corrupt”
Man, imagine being that retarded. The forefathers would have never revolted against the British if that logic actually made any sense whatsoever.
The problem is that he joined the especially notoriously infamously corrupt and evil side, dumbass.
Whoops! It seems like you may of missed what I wrote, no worries though, I got you covered.
Ah yes, you shouldn’t go into politics to make the changes you would like to see because the “system is corrupt”
Man, imagine being that retarded. The forefathers would have never revolted against the British if that logic actually made any sense whatsoever.
Fighting evil with evil doesn’t make you a good guy. Don’t be evil, you can defeat fascists while still being a decent human being.
Plenty of options. Didn’t have to be a shaman, didn’t have to live in a sheit tier state, didn’t have to run for public office, didn’t have to support the GOP. He went up to the leopard and screamed “eat my face”.
I mean, he was 62 years old you know, not like he could just turn his life around on a dime given the position he was in.
The dude was not hurting anyone. He clearly wanted to help operate the city, you have zero chance of winning with the democratic party in the vast majority of deep south states. Being a part of a party does not mean you believe in every single view that someone in your party holds, why do you think half the GOP is trying to get rid of Trump?
And would you stop with this leopard eating shit? I have read it here like 40,000 times. Suicide isn’t a joke, this is borderline not even a story about politics FFS. Save it for actually funny shit.
Boy that leopard is getting fat. Must be from all the faces it is eating. He fed the leopard for fucking decades.
You really think his church gives a shit? I bet during their weekly pretend time this morning they were celebrating.
Did I say anything about a church?
Are you an actual human being? I don’t give a shit about the church, I don’t give a shit about religion in general at all actually.
The fact you mentioned that raises my suspicion that you are a bot or something
I am mentioning the church. He was a leader for a denomination of Christianity infamous for the degree of its anti-LGBT stances. Decades feeding the hate machine. And I bet you anything that today they those people who said a thousand good morning to him are happy that he killed himself.
The final unavoidable conclusion of Christianity is to kill its own.
I love what John Oliver said on his segment about I believe Lindsay Graham.
Paraphrasing, he could have helped usher in the change that would have made his lifestyle more acceptable and more inclusive. But he wanted power.
These people choose to be a Republican. They choose to associate with a party that is actively trying to eliminate the very people they are and the sad thing is that they think they are the exception. They think the party will accept them.
And the hard, harsh truth is that they are only accepted so long as it’s convenient. I think he knew this and that’s why he chose to end his life.
It’s sad that he felt he had to do that. But I’m not holding my breath for the GOP to say that they learned a lesson from it.
Being a mayor of a small town and being a US Senator or even House Rep are two very different things. It is very likely that, despite being Republican, he did nothing to further Republicanism with the power that he did have.
Most of the time, mayors really just do small town mayor shit like approving a tree to be cut down or asking the state for a road to be fixed. They’re not usually involved with politics in the way Lindsey fucking Graham is.
I hate Republicans for all they do and stand for, but nobody kills themselves just for fun. This guy was mentally ill (aside from being in the GOP) and got pushed over the brink by an asshole.
You don’t have to be sad about his death, but suicide is not normal and should never be encouraged like some here basically do.
What a waste. Regardless of his political affiliations, it’s sad that someone got bullied so hard that they decided to take their own life. It’s what we fight for in the LGBTQ community and beyond- so nobody feels that their life is over if discovered. Nor should it be a big deal, regardless. It’s what we’ve been fighting for since the Lavender Scare, and we’ll keep fighting for a general sense of normalcy for everyday Americans, regardless of political orientation.
Fascism eats its own
