Far-right website defends 'inhumane' decision to 'out' Alabama mayor: 'I’m not budging an inch'

13 November 2023

The Rev. F.L. "Bubba" Copeland, who was the mayor of Smiths Station, Alabama and a Baptist pastor, committed suicide on November 3 after 1819 News — a right-wing media outlet — reported that he had been cross-dressing.

1819, according to the Beast's Kate Briquelet, has been defending its decision to make Copeland's activities public.

On the November 8 episode of 1819's podcast, Editor-In-Chief Jeff Poor said, "It was a tough decision. But we made the decision. You stick with it. And I just — at that point, he's a double public figure. And you — the people, I think, at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City had a right to know what their worship leader was doing."

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On that podcast, 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson told listeners, "I'm not budging an inch. We did exactly what we were created to do — did what I said we would do when we started 1819 News. And that is tell the truth, no matter come what may."

Briquelet notes that Copeland's suicide "has spawned a social media backlash against 1819 News" and a "debate over whether the articles were truly in the public interest, or mere fodder for the culture wars over gender identity."

"It's unclear who tipped off 1819 News to the small-town mayor's alter ego on the internet, where he reportedly posted photos of himself cross-dressing under the moniker Brittini Blaire Summerlin and referred to himself as a 'thick transgender woman,'" Briquelet reports. "According to 1819 News, 'Copeland promptly deleted the accounts and asked them not to be made public due to his family and position as a pastor' when contacted by the site."

Copeland, according to Briquelet, compared his cross-dressing to "cosplay" and told 1819 News, "Just my wife knows about it. It's a hobby I do to relieve stress. I have a lot of stress, and I'm not medically transitioning. It's just a bit of a character I'm playing.… I don't go out and seek solicitation or anything like that…. It's private. I don't do it in the public or anything like that.… It's just a fictional character I made up to relieve stress."

Former Phenix City School Superintendent Larry DiChiara, a friend of Copeland, believes the former Smiths Station mayor was treated unfairly.

DiChiara told the Daily Beast, "He was just a big ol' teddy bear that always had a smile for people, always a kind word. You couldn't help but like him…. The first thing I thought was, 'Man, who did he anger?' Because somebody was going after him. And I started reading and seeing some of the comments that people were making. And it really upset me because I knew how hurtful this was going to be for him and his family."

DiChiara added, "It's pretty inhumane to go after the man. And not just the way the publication did.… but how everybody else piled on."

Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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