An Alabama preacher and politician killed himself Friday two days after being outed for having a secret life he shared online as a “transgender curvy girl.”
There’s probably gonna be a lot of trolls in here, but I have to say this is incredibly sad. I do hope his sermons preached love and acceptance rather than the hate that caused him to take his life.
The guy supported the party that routinely shits on minority groups…but when they turn in him it’s sad? He fed the rapid dog that turned and bit him.
Yes, I find it sad when someone is driven to suicide. It’s weird, I know.
I feel that a man who dresses up as a woman in their free time did not decide for himself that gay/trans people are evil. This man probably had been lying to himself and others about who he was for decades, living through self-hate and trying to convince himself that he was “normal” and not “one of those fags” and the like.
Now that he’s accepted himself and thought that he was safe to express who he was in private online communities (obviously stupid for someone in his position), his whole world is coming down on him. Now everyone knows he’s “one of them”.
I don’t know enough about the guy to comment with certainty on what harm he may have caused as mayor, if he actively made life harder for gay/ trans people then that’s really shitty of him. All I’m saying is, things don’t happen in a vacuum, and this guy is just as much a victim of hate and bigotry as anyone else who’s killed themselves over it.
Yeah exactly. Some folks pass the point of sympathy. Folks like Joseph McCarthy, people who run conversion camps, Milo Yannanopolos, Blaire White, etc. But it’s hard to hit that point. I generally draw that line after having accepted yourself or begun living as yourself. And even then, I don’t want these people dead, I want them to change and work to undo the harm they’ve done.
Targeted outing is an important tactic. It’s a way to force the people in power to own up to their hypocrisy and to stop people from hiding their true self behind hate. That’s not what this is, this is outing someone to cause them harm and to scare others. It’s an old harassment technique that’s been done as long as the internet has been around to try to hurt trans people, and it’s not ok.
Explained it the best. I hate what he did. I hate what a lot of people do. But I’m always sad to lose someone who had a chance to change.
It’s what the internet is worst at, forgiving. This person said awful things and did awful things, but if he hadn’t taken his life and had instead worked through this, I honestly believe that he would be someone alive and worth forgiving.
This doesn’t ever excuse the damage people do. I think that’s what people forget. You can forgive people without excusing their harm. But it’s always important that those who seek forgiveness both receive it AND receive it as they work to undo the harm if possible. Sometimes that won’t be possible.
Exactly. The harm is done regardless. I want us to be the side of “I changed for the better”. We shouldn’t immediately trust people or forgive them of course, that “unconditional forgiveness and trust so long as you repent and are on our side” bullshit is part of how Christians keep winding up with a bunch of pedos. But I do believe in restorative justice. Sometimes people become good after doing many bad things.
I want people to be better, so I think we need to stop punishing them for trying to be better. I’ll take former republicans, I’ll take reformed bigots, I’ll take assholes trying to be better, so long as all of them are actually striving to improve. And sometimes those people need to not be in a room so people can get a break from their not being quite there yet or because of the harm they did in the past, but that’s ok, the goal is to get them there.
He supported a party of hate and bigotry but let’s all feel bad when that same hate and bigotry are directed at him.
It’s amazing how many of you are only capable of seeing the world in black and white.
This isn’t a a gotcha: Are you gay or trans? Have you lived in a deeply red, effectively theocratic area of the American south or west?
No, and no
It’s easy for me to judge living in anonymity in a progressive city with a supporting network around me (I’m trans).
More likely she was raised conservative, built a career and family around it, in a small southern town where maintaining that facade is the only way to be accepted, then realized “oh shit I’m trans” and panicked.
At that point, I can totally understand how difficult it would be to escape decades of baggage. Many trans ppl are reluctant to come out for precisely those reasons: career, family, lack of acceptance. The result is turmoil.
I view her more as a lost trans sibling who was born into a cruel world and should be mourned, while not excusing her poor choices of political affiliation. I’m sure it was a daily struggle trying to reconcile what conservatives were saying about people like her, with her own identity.
Not everyone is strong enough to fight this fight.
She supported a party that hates trans people. Nobody could have seen this coming. 🙄
Seriously. He wouldn’t have killed himself if he was surrounded by accepting people.
It’s still tragic that someone felt they couldn’t be themself, but when you spend your time empowering intolerance and then find yourself a target of that intolerance? I have no tears to spare.
Yeah it’s so sad that some giga pervert killed himself after being exposed for writing erotic fanfiction about him murdering and taking over the life of a local business woman and posting his transition fetish memes using real children.
This is a god damn shame. This poor person probably could have had a much happier life if only they knew how. Knew how to escape the life that everyone else expected of them.
Instead it sounds like this poor soul spent their entire life supporting the very cause of their suffering. A lot of people would be happy to point out the irony in the double life he led. But, it’s hard to walk away from a life that’s all you’ve ever known.
We should all be like MuhammadJesusGaySex.
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This is really sad. People deserve to be who they are.
do people deserve to be able to stalk local woman and write erotic fanfiction about them that involves their murder? 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
This is the same website that initially outed them. Unless you can provide a less shady source, I’m not inclined to believe them.
Alternative headline: Public official outed as a pervert who was stalking local women and posting pictures of kids to porn websites to further his “transition fetish”. Dude is a fucking pervert.
This is what happens when people are forced to repress themselves in order to fit in with what society says is acceptable.
What they want becomes bad but they still fantasize about it. So the fantasy’s become twisted and perverse. If this person was allowed to be who they wanted to be they may not have gone down such a dark path. It really just makes me sad to see things like this.
I completely agree, this is partially why I think “banning” trans people is just shooting everyone in the foot.
Orrrr maybe he’s just a sick pervert. I don’t think having fantasies about murdering and replacing woman is normal.
That isn’t normal. But being raised in the south where you are expected to be the gender you were born with, and then having to suppress your true feelings, leads to associating those feelings with “sick pervert” actions.
I’m not so sure about that. No amount of repressed sexuality makes you write murder fantasies about real local women.
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I mean, it’s in bad taste to involve real people, especially to post their pictures, in erotic fanfic, but if he never harmed or threatened anyone I don’t think that warrants more than taking things down and making and an apology to the people involved.
I certainly wouldn’t lump that in with people who actively harm people and maliciously invade people’s privacy.
You don’t think the woman who was featured in the murder-replacement fanfic wasn’t scared when she heard of this? I would say that’s pretty awful. She did not consent to play a part in this guys fetish that he shared over the internet publicly.
Dumb fucking take brah
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You are absolutely right…except the article even states that Brittni described herself as a transgender woman. So it seems appropriate for us to take Brittni’s word on that.
Sad story
Sad life, that he had to hide it, if he wanted to be out
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Just let people live their lives ffs
Copeland told 1819 News, which published the report on his 62nd birthday, that his online alter ego was a harmless “hobby” that did not go beyond his home.
“The only moral crossdressing is my crossdressing”
What’s really sad is this guy could’ve had a great support group among progressives.
Instead, he let the fear of retribution from his current peers dictate his decisions.
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So the guy wanted power so badly he supported the GOP…but when they turned on him it was suddenly very sad. LOL. Sure.
Some ppl think that just being LGBTQ means you’re really a good person inside. He was perfectly fine to shit on other people but once it came to facing his own scrutiny he took the cowards way out.
