After the 2019 suicide of a local teenager, small-town mayor and pastor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland helped students place roadside signs in his Alabama community to try to reach others who might be hurting.
“You are worthy of love.” “Don’t give up.” “You matter.”
Those were the same messages friends said they tried get through to Copeland before he took his own life along one of those county roads two days after a conservative news site exposed social media posts where he appeared in women’s clothing, a wig and makeup.
The disclosure bombarded Copeland, 49, with online ridicule and his death, experts said, underscores the dangers of outing people in an era that has seen the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights as states across the country introduce legislation based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Copeland’s friends said they hope it prompts a wave of self-examination about how we treat others.
“I just want to ask you people who thought it humorous to publicly ridicule him. Are you happy now? What crime did he commit?” Larry DiChiara, a former school superintendent who knew Copeland from when he served on a county school board, wrote in a pointed Facebook post.
Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station, a city of 5,300 near the Georgia border, ran a small grocery store and was pastor at First Baptist Church in nearby Phenix City, where a sign proclaims to passersby, “Jesus Loves You. All Are Welcome.”
His public social media presence detailed baptisms, family gatherings, homecoming parades and sales at his country store.
State Rep. Jeremy Gray, a legislator from nearby Opelika, said Copeland had been a “steadfast presence” after a 2019 tornado devastated rural sections of the county, killing more than 20 people. Copeland was photographed with then-President Donald Trump when he toured the area.
But Copeland’s private online life became public on Nov. 1 when a conservative news blog posted the first of several…
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