An Alabama mayor ended his life after an internet site confirmed photos of him cross-dressing

F.L. “Bubba” Copeland wore many hats within the small metropolis of Smiths Station in east Alabama. He was the mayor, a pastor and the proprietor of an area grocery retailer. He was additionally a husband and father.

However within the days earlier than Copeland took his life, the 49-year-old was revealed to have one other identification — this time, of a person who appreciated to decorate up as a girl and write erotic fiction.

On Wednesday, 1819 Information, an internet site affiliated with the conservative Alabama Coverage Institute, wrote that Copeland used a string of social media accounts beneath a pseudonym. The outlet additionally included a number of pictures of Copeland in ladies’s clothes and make-up that the location mentioned have been posted beneath the accounts.

Two days later, Copeland killed himself, the Lee County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned.

A funeral service for Copeland is scheduled for Thursday.

It is unattainable to know all of the components that led to Copeland’s suicide. However his demise places a highlight on media ethics and when, if ever, it is acceptable to publish tales on folks’s personal lives.

1819 Information printed a collection of articles on Copeland

The social media accounts belonging to Copeland described a transgender lady within the strategy of medically transitioning, 1819 Information mentioned. However Copeland informed the outlet he was not truly doing so. He added that his spouse knew of his personal pastime, 1819 Information mentioned.

Copeland informed his congregation on Wednesday at a weekly prayer service that he was beneath an “web assault.” He admitted to taking pictures of himself in ladies’s clothes, however added that “plenty of issues that have been mentioned have been taken out of context.”

“The article just isn’t who or what I’m,” he mentioned, in line with a recording of the service. “I apologize for any embarrassment attributable to my personal or private life that has come publicly.”

Two days later and hours earlier than Copeland’s demise, the outlet launched one other article, centered on fictional tales and social media posts it says have been produced beneath Copeland’s pseudonym.

1819 Information alleged that Copeland had used the names and pictures of actual neighborhood members in these posts with out their consent. The article emphasised one fictional narrative a few trans lady’s infatuation with an area enterprise proprietor that turned lethal. 1819 Information mentioned that the enterprise proprietor character was impressed by a real-life particular person and enterprise acquainted to Copeland.

1819 Information didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark. On Friday, the outlet reported on Copeland’s demise and expressed its condolences.

“Our prayers are with the residents of Smiths Station, the parishioners of First Baptist Church of Phenix Metropolis and Copeland’s household,” the outlet wrote.

Publicly outing an individual’s personal life will be dangerous

Gary Hicks, a communications professor at Southern Illinois College Edwardsville, has studied the historical past and penalties of outings, or when the media exposes an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identification or different personal particulars of their private life with out the particular person’s permission.

The act of sporting garments related to one other gender just isn’t synonymous with being homosexual, lesbian or transgender. However like with many practices that problem typical gender norms, outing an individual’s curiosity in cross-dressing with out their consent will be extraordinarily dangerous, Hicks mentioned.

“I can’t discover a good motive to out an individual in a narrative,” he mentioned. “You have no idea what the ramifications are going to be.”

Hicks identified that some information organizations have justified outing elected officers in the event that they actively denounce or vote towards homosexual rights. NPR was not capable of finding any proof that Copeland held such views.

Traditionally, individuals who don’t conform to gender norms have been accused of being misleading or secretive. However Hicks mentioned choices associated to an individual’s gender or sexual orientation are deeply private and it may possibly take a very long time for an individual to completely perceive themselves.

“The choice to return out in any method belongs to the person and never a information group or anybody else,” he mentioned.

Copeland led his metropolis throughout a interval of immense development and grief

Copeland was born in Columbus, Ga., however lived in Smiths Station, Ala., for many of his life. He attended Smiths Station Excessive Faculty and later, Auburn College, the place he earned a level in resort and restaurant administration. He went on to personal and function a grocery retailer.

His political profession started in 2008 as a college board member for Lee County. In 2016, he turned the second particular person ever to be mayor of Smiths Station.

Throughout his time in workplace, Copeland was dedicated to the town’s development and growth. He spurred the designation of a historic web site, and the creation of an outside neighborhood heart and a public works division. He additionally championed a million-dollar street enchancment challenge to deal with site visitors congestion. And he guided the town by means of unprecedented challenges, together with a lethal outbreak of tornadoes in 2019 and the COVID pandemic.

Amid all his mayoral duties, Copeland additionally served as a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in close by Phenix Metropolis.

Copeland’s neighborhood reacts with grief, confusion and anger

On Sunday, the First Baptist Church of Phenix Metropolis saved its service brief for congregants to mourn collectively the lack of their senior pastor. Earlier than that started, church member David White shared a couple of phrases.

“I can’t let you know that I totally perceive or can clarify the scope of his tragedy,” he mentioned, in line with a recording. “There are some issues I do know are completely true. I do know that my buddy Bubba Copeland cherished this church and its folks.”

Later that day, his church printed an on-line obituary.

“He helped information the Metropolis by means of a interval of great development and growth, and earn its place as one of many quickest rising Cities within the State of Alabama,” it learn. “Past serving his church, metropolis, and neighborhood, Bubba cherished spending time along with his household and serving his neighborhood.”

The Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, of which Copeland’s church was an element, mentioned it was grieving with the Phenix Metropolis First Baptist Church.

“We maintain all those that mourn Bubba Copeland within the gentle and love of Christ as they await the promised consolation of God,” wrote coordinator Lucas Dorion.

In a assertion, Lee County Democrats mentioned Copeland had a coronary heart for service, including that Copeland offered “numerous folks with hope and help” throughout the pandemic and 2019 tornadoes.

“Mayor Copeland was the spine of Smiths Station,” the group wrote on Friday.

Former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones mentioned he was heartbroken by the lack of Copeland, who he described as a buddy, a “good man and nice mayor.” Jones additionally straight condemned 1819 Information.

“It’s unhappy and disgusting how he was handled by the @1819News for private choices nevertheless misguided they may have been,” Jones wrote on X.

The previous superintendent of Phenix Metropolis colleges, Larry DiChiara, mentioned he was enraged by how Copeland was handled within the days earlier than his demise.

“I simply wish to ask you individuals who thought it humorous to publicly ridicule him, ‘Are you content now?’ What crime did he commit? A few of you folks make me sick,” DiChiara mentioned in a social media publish.