Alabama Mayor Kills Self After Right-Wing Blog Outs His Cross-Dressing
Bubba Copeland shot himself in front of police on Friday, days after he begged 1819 News not to expose his private life.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/alabama-mayor-bubba-copeland-kills-self-after-right-wing-1819-news-outs-his-cross-dressingOpen linkView original on kbin.social1242
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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.
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.
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.
Yeah that's a fair point
Would you blame a secret jew for jojning yhe Nazi party if that was a way of keep away from a concentration camp?
i guess not, good point
Was this guy at threat for being queer in America?
How many of those are also hiding their sexuality/gender just because of the same reasons that you mentioned?
Im sorry for the guy that shot himself, but he was part of the problem. It doesn't matter the reason why someone is a church goer, Trump supporter, one less of them is always good.
Stop white washing this shithead. He was a horrible person who was perfectly fine persecuting others BUT THE FUCKING IMSTANT IT CAME BACK ON HIM HE OFFED HIMSELF.
THIS WAS NOT A GOOD PERSON, CLOSET LGBTQ OR NO.
You got a source for that, besides simply being a member of the GOP in s location where there is no plausible alternative?
There are plenty of Democrats in Alabama. He didn't have to run for public office.
Are you kidding me!? "He had to be part of the anti-LGBTQ party because of where he lived". Fuck out of here with that nonsense. I deleted my longer comment, let me sum it to for you:
If any of those conflict with each other, well; life is about choices. Anything less is cowardice.
Get a grip. I asked for a source that the person, who you all are celebrating the suicide of, was actually a terrible person or partook in the persecution of others.
That was the assertion that I was responding to, and none of that was mentioned in any source in this thread besides wild assumptions by people simply for being in the republican party in a small town.
He stood at the pulpit that makes him party to the persecution of others.
None of those words backs up your assertion, which was that there was "no plausible alternative" to being a GOP politician in Alabama. You can't defend it because it's complete nonsense.
Also, I didn't celebrate his death, and I haven't seen anyone else do so either...
Meh sometimes people just hate someone for not understanding them. And that's enough. You don't always need to pretend to have a good reason for hating someone, you just decide and then one day someone asks you why, like asking about babies crying in Africa, people often prefer not to have their beliefs challenged or broken to pieces by any kind of paradigm shift
This person partook in the persecution of others. proof? they were in the GOP. there's your proof.
And nobody is celebrating suicide. This person is not a hero is all that is being said.
Is it implausible that perhaps this person wished to hide within the GOP to escape its suspicions about their personal life? A Democrat mayor in a deeply Republican area would attract a lot of distrust and hostility simply by virtue of being a Democrat. A Republican mayor, not so much.
Is every trans person morally obligated to leave every institution that persecutes them? Even when to do so would scrutiny?
You heard it here folks, association by organization means you did the same thing some other shitheads did.
The secretaries for concentration camps? They gassed the Jews themselves, might as well have anyways, based on that logic.
Let's take it even further, all Germans are bad because of what Hitler did to the Jews, after all, they are ASSOCIATED with the SS, being in the same country and culture and all, they all obviously have symmetrical views because all people really believe the same thing even in a party such as the GOP.
(Don't you dare try to pretend those analogies flew over your head, work with me here)
Grow up, it's not about him "being a hero", nobody here is claiming that. The fact you came to that conclusion somehow on your own is evidence enough that you are celebrating his death. Have some respect, it seems pretty clear to me that he had second thoughts atleast some point in his life about his political decisions, had no way out, and when someone threatened to take even that away, made the last mistake you can ever make on your own accord. Please have some respect just as you would wish for yourself.
Fuck off nazi apologist.
It isn't binary
lmao I loved this part.
You have a good point, I'm starting to think I was in a hateful mood yesterday. I still don't think this person was a hero but it's truly very sad that they had to hide this part of their life, and were so scared of the public's opinion that they killed themselves.
He was not forced to be a GOP.
He would be if he wanted to become a mayor
Not really local level most people do care. My area is blue and my ward has a GOP council member. I did vote for him.
You know that democrats do live in Alabama, right?
You got a source for ur bullshit? No alternative?? Lmfao ok yeah right.
Source: rural Alabama and a basic understanding of political party distribution in the US
Yeah a 3rd grade understanding. Like there are no Dems in the south.
In most rural areas of the South, it's a racial divide between which are Republican or Democrat. Where I'm from, a white person being a Democrat would be, and are, actively threatened and hurt if they voice their opinion (by white Republicans).
*She was a horrible person.
*SHE OFFED HERSELF.
ftfy
Cross dresser != Trans
She identified as trans and was offering advice on HRT on Reddit.
This person never called or asked anyone to call them she. What the fuck are u even talking about? Get a grip.
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.
@Poutinetown quotes from the article:
These are the assholes who make it shameful.
Leopard face eating moment
It's not a "rare example", it's the whole point of the leopard-eating-face thing. People support a political party and then react with shock when the party carries through with its promises in a way that hurts them.
It's not news when someone votes for the leopard and then sits back smugly while the leopard eats the faces of other people.
Your comment here is seriously making me rethink ever partaking in political discussion, let me just wrap my head around this for a second;
So you think this guy deserved to kill himself or die because of some of his political beliefs? How are you better than they are exactly? Look at me, no tolerism bullshit or anything like that when I say this.
Nobody deserves to die because of social issues or image.
Sadly this is a prime example.
'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?
People tend to sexualize the taboo. In a society where gender is seen as set in stone and comes with a bunch of stupid bullshit like what clothes it’s socially acceptable to wear some people will sexualize violating the taboos
Hate is a strong emotion. Hatefucking is a real thing. I'm sure Pornhub has data showing an increase of searches for Middle Eastern people after 9/11.
Alright, not gonna lie that last one threw me for a loop.
Pretty sure it was the last part that caused him to do that, I think the gap between crossdressing and scatophagy (is that a word yet?) is pretty far.
Yeah I want a world where nobody is persecuted for this, even pieces of shit.
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.
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.
He's conservative and even had a meeting with Trump. That's the worst of it I think, he was ok with persecuting trans people till he was outed.
To be fair, being trans is not the same as being a crossdresser.
It's basically the same as how Drag Queens aren't trans. They aren't fully conforming to the idea of being a 'woman', just the fashion and expression of it. Many prominent drag figures use she/her pronouns while in drag but immediately switch back to he/him when out of drag.
I've known a lot of people who really get into cross dressing but would never consider themselves trans.
I never really got into a serious conversation about it, but I always took it like when you get into a video game. It's just a lot of fun pretend to be them for awhile while knowing that in reality it's fiction.
'Course, then there are the folks for whom crossdressing is entirely different from being trans until suddenly it's not. (I'm thinking of crossdressing comedian Eddie Izzard -- who is now Suzy Izzard -- as I write this.)
The main thing is that all possibilities are possible, and it's really more about letting folks do their thing instead of trying to categorize.
Here are the Google definitions
Transgender - denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth.
Transvestite - a person who dresses in clothes primarily associated with the other sex (typically used of a man).
So do transfats. Don’t tell me you get that confused too
Don't even get me started on transmissions.
Crossdressing and/or drag is you like to be outwardly a woman/other gender. Trans is you ARE a woman. Full stop. Your meat suit just happens to not agree with it, thus the term gender dysphoria.
Note: I do not speak for a trans people. Nothing is black and white. This is just how I understand it best and figured it got the point across.
FYI, I am looking to learn and not state anything as fact here. I am just going to explain my current understanding and if it is incorrect, please correct me.
I think gender dysphoria just describes any feelings of distress and anxiety caused by suppressing the feelings of actual gender identity. The disconnect between mind and body may not always be traumatic.
So, if a trans woman has fully embraced being a woman in all aspects of life with no second thoughts, gender dysphoria may not be an issue.
However, if a trans woman feels socially pressured to maintain the lifestyle of a man, that could be a source of stress, anxiety and initial confusion.
There are probably millions of nuanced scenerios that do, or, do not result in gender dysphoria. However, it has been my experience that most people who are anti-trans use gender dysphoria as a generalized blanket term. (Obviously, that doesn't mean that anyone who used the term is anti-trans, but just covering that base regardless.)
You think you are.
You where born in the wrong body but the technology isn't there yet to change that fact. That's why it's still called Transgender. if you could just switch Cis bodies I'm not sure anyone wouldn't try it out.
I'm with famous cross dresser Barry Humphries in considering gender affirming surgery self mutilation, but at the end of the day it's none of my or anyone else's fucking business what someone does with their own meat suit.
Maybe this will help?
Crossdressing and drag are related to gender expression. Cis and trans are terms relating to a person's gender identity and may or may not align with gender expression.
That illustration is sweet
By no means am I an expert, especially on the intricacies of being trans and I don't want to cis-splain their experiences, but I do know that cross dressing has an overlap of necessity with them, but it's a ven-diagram/intersection rather than a circle.
People who are trans typically explain it as having always felt like they've always been in the wrong gendered-body. Wearing clothes that correspond to the gender they feel they are
(also, keep in mind MRI's have shown brain activity that more closely matches the gender they feel they are than the gender they were born with, as well) is way for them to try and reconcile the way they feel with the way they were born. It's usually an early stage in socially transitioning, whether they later choose to chemically/medically transition or not (and keep in mind, this is not always the end goal for people ... simply being acknowledged as the way they see themselves is enough for some people and they shouldn't be afraid to be in public because of that!).
People who cross dress on the other hand may be doing it because they're trans and feeling out the early stages OR ... just because. It could be the way a textile feels, it could be sexual, it could be non-sexual, it could be because they just like it, it could be because ... you see where I'm going with this? There are as many reasons that people cross dress as there t-shirt designs (I may be exaggerating a bit with that one, but you get my meaning, I think).
I know NOFX is problematic, but I feel like "I’m a Transvest‐Lite" explains it decently (for one particular person anyways!):
Also, the beginning of the song is about the shame felt early on about it and is generally about getting the courage to not give a flying fuck about what people think.
Hopefully I did a decent enough explanation without trampling on anyones lived experiences. The simple truth is that both groups of people have completely individualized experiences and it's a different journey for every single person.
Did you even read the article? It's specifically says that he was supportive of trans people.
I feel pity for this person, they deserved better.
That said. You cannot be supportive of LGBT people, and vote for the Republican party. Republicans are quite openly hostile to LGBT people, both in rhetoric and in policy. You can't say you are supportive of a group while voting to strip them of their legal recognitions and protections.
I agree with your comment, and I don’t think you’re saying otherwise. But definitely important to note that a lot of LGBT+ folks start off on the wrong side because of how they were raised, religion, etc. and the internal trans/homophobia that causes.
That said, there are also though a sizeable number of LGBT+ “one of the good ones” who think their support of republicans will keep them from being targeted by the laws they want to introduce (it won’t. This case itself is proof of that.)
I think that’s the important lesson to learn here for anyone voting republican and being a part of the LGBT community. The people you are voting for will not let you be just because you’re voting for them.
Did you read the article? He literally spoke with people online about how to transition and such. That is supporting them.
You don't know how he voted. Stop making stuff up.
I take small umbrage with the idea that you cannot support LGBTQ people and vote in a way that doesn't support your personal beliefs.
We are all of us paradoxical and hypocritical. Maybe they weren't pro-republican they were anti-democrat. I don't fucking know.
That aside, I get what you're saying, but your political stance is not the end all and be all of who you are, and as the Republican party has proved beyond any shadow of any doubt being hypocritical is the name of their game.
This one person could have been very pro-trans and yet still support the Republican agenda in every other way.
Plus, we don't know if they were pro-trans or LGBTQ, all that we know is that they were not publically anti-trans.
I don't care.
You cannot vote to make someone's life measurably worse, and claim to support them.
That's not my "personal beliefs", this is people's lives and wellbeing.
That is fair. And that is why I pity this person. And why I'm not talking about Leopards Eating People's Faces. This person was clearly troubled.
That doesn't change what I'm saying though. I'm not trying to morally judge this individual with what I'm saying. All I am saying is that the net effect of the actions of someone who votes Republican, is not supportive of LGBT people, regardless of their personal beliefs.
That's worse. You understand how that's worse, right?
Human rights are pretty much a deal-breaker. Or at least they should be.
You have misinterpreted my comment. I'm not trying to judge this person.
I'm making a general statement that it is not possible to support a demographic while simultaneously voting to take away their legal recognitions and protections.
For some people, there are only ever two sides, one all good, one all bad and there can not be people in-between or on each side that aren't 100% a walking trope integrated with all traits of the "side". It's quite sad really.
We seriously need to do away with our two party system. Everything wrong with the country and the division is due to that. Ranked choice voting needs to be a priority.
The trump meeting was because his town was badly hit in a natural disaster, not necessarily something that he would have sought kut
Reading other articles it seems like no, he was generally very positive and encouraging to others online. The impression I get (from 10 minutes of reading, not saying this conclusively) is that he was not overtly hostile whatsoever to trans people.
There are enormous social pressures in small conservative towns, and the man was 63. I can imagine life leading someone otherwise pro-trans into being a republican preacher in that environment. An awful tragedy
This. People are complicated, even when it is inconvenient.
Except for being a member of the anti LGBTQ party.
Yeah, but so is Caitlyn Jenner...
How anybody takes someone like that seriously is beyond me
You've got me. I don't understand why any trans person would be a Republican, but I guess money trumps all when you're rich.
Because they (wrongly) believe that being “one of the good ones” will save them from being targeted by republicans and their proposed legislation like Project 2025
That doesn’t mean people who have previously voted red are in the wrong (lots of internalized homophobia can lead to opposite beliefs). But once you realize your identity and continue to vote against yours and other people’s human rights, you’re absolutely in the wrong.
Pretty sure there were slaves that actively sought to maintain slavery. In some cases, they had relatively decent lives compared to other slaves and even some free black people.
I would imagine that becoming mayor in certain parts of the country is much easier if you’re a member of the dominant party in the region.
Or existing in society at all. Sometimes in those parts of the country the first question upon meeting someone is "what church do you go to".
He didn't have to become mayor.
No, he didn’t. But people get to want things. Sometimes they want things for themselves, sometimes they want things for their communities.
You can disagree with your party on one issue. There are tons of Democrats who are opposed to increased gun control, for example.
But it's not just "an issue". We are talking about a demographic and their legal recognition. No I'm sorry but we cannot agree to disagree on something so fundamental as equal treatment of people.
It's not comparable gun control.
I'm talking about whether people are physically capable of breaking with their party on a single issue. They obviously are.
Gallup poll
Disagreeing on policy is one thing; disagreeing on human rights is another. You cannot be a Republican and have respect for queer rights at the same time. It has to be a 100% deal-breaker.
I'm not sure what you're talking about. There are tons of Republicans who support gay rights in some fashion, even if it's not a majority position within the party.
Gallup poll
No, there are precisely zero Republicans who support gay rights. What you've cited is a poll showing some who claim to, but are lying. Their deeds, not their words, prove their true intentions.
How likely are those Democrats to get bullied to the point of suicide if their "secret" of being against increased gun control was to come out? Or to preemptively commit suicide in anticipation of the bullying they're going to receive?
This is not the same thing. Democrats are, generally speaking, flexible about a lot of their positions. It's how they wind up with problem members like Manchin and Sinema. The Republican party is very different.
That's not the right comparison. He didn't commit suicide because he was ashamed of supporting gay rights, he was ashamed of wanting to cross dress and of having engaged in the activity. Regardless of politics, that's a pretty uncommon behavior. Most people don't want other people to know they're a sexual deviant of some kind. I'd guess that this behavior is much more maligned in conservative circles than liberal or left, for sure, but the point is that it's not just the breaking from the standard beliefs of that side.
And that, right there, is exactly my point.
Good luck trying to get the terminally online to understand the nuances and complexities of the human condition
It's a feature, not a bug.
He was a Baptist minister too...
I don't think many of them preach acceptance of LGBT
Some do. It's just correlation because low church denominations like Baptists suit rural areas more than being at the behest of a large denom.
https://www.parkroadbaptist.org/
He was a Republican so yes he voted repeatedly to hurt LGBTQ people AS LONG AS IT WASNT HIM
If you read the article, it said, about halfway through, that he never spoke up on LGBTQ issues despite being a Republican.
It says he hasn't posted or supported anything publicly so he wasn't a hypocrite, he belonged to the wrong party though, I do feel bad for his family because he doesn't seem to be a right wing asshole
Could have just said he's a conservative.
This comment section is hilarious. Some people are praising his suicide simply because he was a part of the republican party, while others are saying that "no one deserves being bullied for being trans" yet what everyone seems to miss is this guy was a grade A pervert who was posting pictures of real children in his transition fetish memes that he posted online. He also stalked a local business woman and wrote erotica about taking over her life and becoming her through hormones and surgery then murdering her and replacing her. A real woman btw.
So much cognitive dissonance in this thread and I'm here for it.
Read up what he did here 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
Christianity once again demonstrates it's outstanding moral virtues.
Could make the same comment about Islam and suicide bombers. As it's easy to do with the two largest religions in the world to paint them with the same brush.
Yes and? You just told me that if I am complaining about one serial killer I could also complain about another
Not the case here. This person was posting photos of local minors to pornographic websites and writing sex fantasy fiction about local residents (including one where he stalks and murders a local businesswoman, seduces her husband, and steals her life).
I agree with what you’re going for here. It just doesn’t apply here. There’s a whole rabbit hole to go down before coming to any conclusions about this one.
Doubt.
Ok I’m just making it up.
Believing what you want to believe rather than what is actually real and happening is why the world is so frightening at the moment.
Enjoy your bubble.
I mean do you have any kind of reliable source? Because none of that stuff is in the article OP posted.
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
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.
I think it's a good reminder that one of Hitler's closest "friends" and instrumental in the rise to power of the nazi party, was executed in the night of the Long knives. Ernst Rohm was publicly known to be gay. Due to this close relationship with Hitler, they determined it would weaken Hitler's image.
Copeland certainly won't be the last GOP casualty due to their bigoted policies.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/mayor-commits-suicide-after-conservative-website-publishes-photos-of-him-in-womens-clothing/
Maybe we shouldn't be outing anyone. One's personal sexuality isn't anybody else's business. Even if one is a bigot.
I think there is a good argument to be made for outing someone closeted who is using their power to oppress LGBT+ people, but there is also a trend of labeling any homophobic politician as being in the closet when a lot of them are just plain old bigots.
I'm sorry, but I must vehemently disagree. There is absolutely no reason to discuss publicly someone's private sexual preferences. Otherwise, you have the society they want where witch-hunts can be started over rumors.
That is also bad, and should not be tolerated.
If I'm being oppressed I would like to know if the thing I'm being opposed for is something my oppressor practices. That is called injustice.
It's called none of your business. You can't expect someone to adhere to a standard you refuse to recognize. It's classic, "Rules for thee..."
But I can expect them to adhere to a standard they're using to oppress me.
That is actually a different thing. And I agree, but you still shouldn't be outing them.
Excuse me? Are you for, "rules for thee but not for me"? I cannot decipher your actual stance.
I can't fathom why, when I've stated it multiple times in the clearest possibly English.
Don't out anyone. No exceptions.
If you make exceptions then it's you who is creating "rules for thee..."
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.
"They don't know what they're voting for" is not a defense, frankly. If you're truly ignorant of what a party stands for and you just can't bring yourself to vote for their opponent, maybe don't vote at all?
If you vote Republican then you are "on board" with the southern strategy and all of this other stuff. That's what voting signifies, that's the whole point of voting. It's a binding statement to the world that you want the person or group you're voting for to be in charge, and in the case of Republicans we know very well what them being "in charge" entails.
They aren't evil, doesn't stop them being ignorant, stupid, wrong, and detrimental to society. Ebola isn't evil, but it'll fuck up your life if you don't kill it first.
Republican voters are cancer, they might not want to kill you, but they will.
It's certainly a not big enough deal for them to leave.
I am.
If they're voting to for and supporting the party that does evil stuff, it really doesn't matter the reason they do it for.
fuck. and. you.
I didn't vote for the Nazis to kill the Jews, I just wanted my taxes lowered :(
Out the ones that could be a part of the ones who could effect change so they can be ousted and replaced by another run-of-the-mill Republican demon. Smart. Real big-brained move.
Mmmmmmmm... No, you know what? fuck that. You don't get to be a bigot and then expect privacy in your own life. Response to even if one is a bigot
Exactly.
This is classic conservative rules for thee bullshit.
This is anti-conservatives sinking to the level of conservative rules for thee bullshit.
You're literally saying "it's ok to be queer, unless..." Either it's ok, it it's not. Spoiler alert, it's fucking ok.
Yes I'm saying it's ok to be queer and not ok to be intolerant. What the fuck is wrong with your reading comprehension?
No one is saying that it is ok that he was outed. They're saying he was making rules as a Republican official that bound LGBTQ people and the instant those rules would apply to him he killed himself..
Rules for thee but not me.
Do u get it now, junior?
Plenty of people are saying exactly that. Are you reading a different thread?
Go back to Reddit, you muppet.
Uk u lost when you resort to "go back to reddit" followed by an ad hominem.
You have it exactly backwards though. You don't get to expect privacy in your own life if you refuse to respect the privacy of others.
Also, why would you fight bigotry by demeaning the very thing they oppose with their bigotry? You're only adding fuel to the fire.
Paradox of intolerance. Your argument is invalid.
Wrong. You don't have to tolerate bigotry to respect sexual privacy. You have no argument.
Imagine outing someone as straight. Essentially it's a weird attempt to enforce a degree of group think
That's the biggest problem with religion and hypocrisy. You're all right being against everything that doesn't concern you personally but as soon as it does suddenly it's a problem.
To be fair, Baptists are some of the worst.
Because every issue has exactly two sides nowadays. And this guy uses twitter, so he should have noticed that by now.
That quote is ignoring the fact that it was his fellow conservatives who went after him to destroy his life. It is his fellow conservatives -- the ones he chose to stand among and support -- that enjoy this outcome.
You cannot be surprised when bullies bully. And the people who hang out with bullies because it benefits them to do so? They are also bullies.
And unfortunately, I think that's exactly why you're wrong. The issue isn't partisanship. The issue is bigotry. These people outed him because they hate and want to destroy LGBT people. There's no shades of grey here. There is no moderate position. This story happened even with no one from the opposite partisan position being involved.
And he participated in that bullying for years himself.
This guy was those guys. Dressing in drag doesn't give him a pass.
I don't see anyone making that argument. What I do see is people saying that being conservative removes your pass to be queer. And that's just atrocious.
Nah, I'll go ahead and say it.
No one has a pass to be conservative, especially a queer person. No one. Not one person. It is not acceptable to be a bigot, a bully. It's not acceptable to be cruel just because you believe there is a certain social hierarchy that ought to be enforced. All the tenants of conservatism are unacceptable. And if you are queer, you now have INTIMATE knowledge of what it is like to be on the receiving end of that hatred and oppression and should know better than most to take no part in it.
I must agree with all of that. But, it still doesn't excuse outing anyone.
Literally no one is saying that anywhere. Your reading comprehension is shit.
What people are saying is it makes him a self hating person and a hypocrite and a bad person to hold office in a party that oppresses LGBTQ people.
You seem to be thinking that just cuz someone is LGBTQ that makes them a good person inside. That's pure identity politics and simply false.
https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/598062/-/comment/3362718
You don't have to apologize. Your silence will suffice.
You don't have to speculate about what I think. I've explicitly stated it on clear and uncertain terms. A person's sexuality is their own private business and there's no reason to be outing anyone.
I don't think you have demonstrated enough reading comprehension to sit in judgement.
I'm pretty sure there's more than two sides to a lot of things in life dude
Guys, he not only was a Republican, he was a Baptist preacher. He aligned himself with these two LGBTQ hater groups.
Maybe he joined the GOP and the Baptist denomination in an attempt to shield his lifestyle, but he willingly belonged to these two groups which both actively HATE LGBTQ and condemn his very lifestyle.
I have a lot of sympathy for people who feel they must disguise their true selves in order to protect themselves...and I respect that he tried to reach out and offer support to others online.
But I'm hearing some very disturbing 'rumors' that he posted hateful, stalking, character assassination of particular people online. And accusations of child porn.
I'm going to reserve my sympathy for him for now, until the whole truth is known.
Really sad that he didn’t feel it was ok to be himself and chose to end his life.
I don’t think he killed himself because he wasn’t accepting of himself, but because he was being tormented and ridiculed and had his entire life turned upside down for who he was. Big difference.
Queer man surprised when anti-queer party he's joined deems him a target. More non-news at 11.
Leopards…leopards.
But, but, but, I didn't think the leopards were going to eat MY FACE!!!
/shockedpikachuemoji
Daniel walks into the lions den, gets attacked by a leopard
There's no evidence that the guy was anti-trans, so your comment is nonsense.
Why would you be a part of the Republican party if you aren't a terrible person?
Asking the real questions.
To change it for the better??? How the hell are people in this comment section so dismissive of the possibility that a politician might want to improve his group?
The Republicans lost control of their party with the tea party people, and the moderate Republicans are not getting control back no matter how hard they try. Just look at how hated Romney was by the end of his career for going slightly against the grain, yet still enabling the Idiocracy.
Sigh you're right republicans and their supporters are nigh irredeemable. Also by the way, its been at least 12 hrs and somebody else claimed that the late mayor was allegedly was a pedo and also had a weird murder identity theft thing going on. So now I am kind of regretting trying to empathize with such a person.
What are you talking about? It makes perfect sense. He was a republican and was attacked by a right wing journalist in an entirely predictable manner consistent with the modern GOP’s platform of bigotry. This is a textbook example of “The Leopards Ate My Face.”
I hate to be that guy because I feel for anybody that is driven to suicide. I've gone through two suicides in my IMMEDIATE family in my life, so I know how the fuck it affects everyone surrounding the situation permanently.
HOWEVER, when you are using the image of Donald Trump to campaign for reelection before being outed by a blog that was connected to right wing terrorists and Breitbart News then I think you can see where there are some serious fucking issues in the progression of this person's logic and political affiliations. Knowingly participating in groups that continue to justify or carry out systemic oppression is still evil even if you yourself have not publicly taken a position justifying that oppression. Just saying....🖖
He was a Republican. He was at minimum anti-trans adjacent. And yes, there's a lot of social pressure in small towns, and the South in general, to conform. Him being a closeted transvestite incorporates nuance into an often black and white issue. But one can only go along so much without being intentionally complicit, too.
He was a republican. Even if he himself was not anti-trans he was perfectly fine being in bed with those who were wishing death on trans (and others).
That’s the definition of LeopardsAteMyFace
Doesn't change the fact that he was happily a member of the party more worried about removing trans rights than ending the american tradition of kids being gunned downed in schools
Then why would that be a thing bad enough to kill himself over?!?
It’s part of the cognitive dissonance peppered throughout these comments: championing empathy, showing none.
I never said I was not empathetic. I am empathetic (see my comment above). That does not mean that I cannot also appreciate the irony in the situation. I wish this person had made different choices, and could be happy with who they were. That is not what they chose to do, and it cost them their life. There is an important lesson in that, and it cheapens their lived experience by not acknowledging where it caused them to end up.
You can have empathy for the guy while also recognizing that he definitely didn’t kill himself because liberals found out and wanted to love and accept him.
Empathy is for everyone.
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.
While I agree that suicide should never ever ever be encouraged. I don’t think it’s necessarily a mental illness. This person was going to or already had lost everything they had ever known and worked for. They would have been a pariah in their town. They very likely would have been disowned by family and friends. It’s a little late in life to be starting all over somewhere new. I don’t think it’s crazy to contemplate unconventional exit strategies in that case.
Source: I am from small rural town Alabama.
I also think that we should remove the negative stigma behind suicide. After all, even bringing it up with a mental health professional can and will get you essentially arrested for 48 to 72 hours which discourages people from seeking help.
Also, can we just acknowledge how fucked up it is that this person felt they had no other way to deal with the situation, all because a group of people cared what clothes he wore in private.
I get that he decided to be part of this group, but even still... No one deserves that.
He could have moved to Oregon and a small town would have embraced him. sigh
Where as I agree with you. It’s also funny that you say that. I have some friends that moved from Oregon to Alabama because it’s so cheap to live here.
Hey! One quick correction - I'm currently a therapy student. You are correct that if a therapist thinks you are in imminent danger of suicide, you can be detained for a period of time for your own safety. But we are taught only to do that if the danger is imminent. If you are just depressed and occasionally have suicidal ideation, but likely will not act on it immediately, a good therapist would not have you detained. That would be counterproductive.
Definitely just be super blunt and honest with your therapist. They are trained to handle things appropriately. You might hear about shitty therapists occasionally, but most of us are really well trained and really want the best for people.
I didn't say suicide always happens, because you are mentally ill. You are twisting my words to suit your argument, maybe unintentionally. There is good reasons why people want to die, e.g. when they suffer from an illness that is only going to cause pain and suffering and want to go on their own terms.
I am not and was never in his head, but I am quite positive he didn't suddenly develop, let's say relatively severe Alzheimer's disease and wanted to die why he still had controll over his life.
And yes, suicide should be allowed in my opinion as well. You should be the one who decides when and how you go. I agree with you insofar.
Though mental health professionals don't admit you against your will, because it is a fun joke to them, but because the vast majority people are mentally ill when they are contemplating suicide. It is not a normal thing to want to die.
I don't know how things are where you live, but in my tiny spot of the world people usually don't get admitted against their will because of suicidal tendencies, but chose to after they talked to a mental health professional. You usually only get admitted against your will here, when e.g. police, firefighters and/or medical services had to talk you down or save you from an attempted suicide attempt. If that is not the case in your small town in rural Alabama, then you should inform yourself as well as possible and try to teach others about a better alternative. Just my two cents on your comment.
Are you trying to make a case that suicide can be a well reasoned and appropriate solution?
Euthanasia might be appropriate in the context of some medical illnesses, but I think there's very few people that would agree that suicide is a reasonable course of action when one encounters challenges like that described here.
I'll just pull you up on some of the phrasing or terms you've used. I'm not trying to be an ass, I'm just concerned at the way you're phrasing things and maybe you don't realise?
He hasn't "lost everything". Sure I'm sure he's lost his current position and standing with some political parties, but he still has whatever wealth he had, and given his experience can probably look forward to a lucrative career in some kind of political support role in another state.
A "pariah" is an outcast. He might have found it hard to make eye contact with some people at the shops but he wouldn't have been banned from entering the city.
He may have been "disowned" but some of his friends, but not all of his friends and family.
It's never too late to move and turn the page on a new chapter. He wouldn't be "starting over" he would be making a change and continuing on.
Additionally, the term "crazy" doesn't help anyone. People who are clinically depressed and suicidal are not "crazy".
Words and phrasing is important and means things, whether you realise it or not your phrasing and framing is very catastrophic or black and white. Life happens in the grey.
Finally, you absolutely can talk to a mental health professional about thoughts of suicide, and they're not going to lock you up. Usually the barrier beyond which someone needs to be detained is when they're an "imminent risk to themselves or others". There's a whole spectrum from "wonders whether suicide is a solution" to "likely to harm themselves today" and in most of that spectrum locking someone up is not the right solution.
I don't know.
It seems to me that when objectively bad people take themselves out of the equation then it's a net positive for everyone.
So the man who dressed in women's clothing supported the party that hates men who dress in woman's clothing. Hard to have much empathy.
Fascism eats its own
That guy killed himself because his political career was over, all his work, all his grift, to the trash. So I doubt it was for bullying entirely.
A pastor would have concocted some bullshit about being possessed by the devil, and sell hard the repentant image.
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.
These fucks (his church) will use this as ammo for their anti-LGBTQ cause. "See folks, this is what happens when you dance with the devil." despite them and people like them being the actual reason that led to this man killing himself. Shameful. We're not going to advance as a species/society until we let go of religion. It's not important anymore, it's a fake fairytale much like Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, and people need to accept that there isn't some man in the sky judging you.
Pot kettle black.
Guess who just had their face eaten by leopards!
That's horrible, poor dude should just have lived his truth. Damn same he felt that this was the only way forward/out.
I don't personally approve of some of the stuff this fellow did, and most of it is just disagreeable or not my cup of tea. But it sure isn't worth the man's life. What a shame he ended up killing himself.
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.
They're not all hypocritical biggots. Some of them are just plain stupid.
Or brainwashed. This was a boomer who grew up in very rural Alabama. There was almost no chance he wasn't going to grow up to be a Republican. And from what I've read, from all accounts, he was not a bigot and was supportive of trans people.
This is a terrible shame and I hope the people who needlessly outed and ridiculed him feel the guilt on their consciences.
There are plenty of Democratic voters in Alabama. Even in rural Alabama. The 2020 presidential election, for example, has a map that breaks down voting by county. Look at all the pink and light red regions - those went Republican, sure, but only by tens of percentage points.
This guy didn't have to be Republican.
I'd like to see it broken down by age group as well.
I'm not a republican but almost every other member of my family is Republican.
The grand majority of them could care less about whether a person is gay or not, or what they do in their own time or in the privacy of their own homes.
I am a minister and I performed a gay wedding for my brother-in-law's brother and his husband just a month ago.
Every single one of them vote Republican because they believe that voting Republican will either decrease their tax burden, that it will prevent abortions, that it will keep illegal immigrants out of the country, or that it will help prevent the world from going even more insane than it already is.
That's why they vote republican.
The fact that the Republican party is anti-trans and anti women's rights and pro white rights at the cost of the right of every other race and anti-environment and pro-billionaire simply cannot penetrate into their brains and so they do not consider those topics.
You cannot bring up those topics to them, because they do not have the mental or emotional faculties to communicate about them.
ignorance and stupidity is no excuse to vote for bigotry, it may be the reason, but it's no excuse at all
I don't know who you think is excusing their stupidity and ignorance. Certainly not me. I was just pointing out that not all GOPers are evil assholes, some of them are just idiots
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.
Sad. But maybe now he’ll have peace.
You don't have anything when you're dead.
There's a time and a place, and this ain't the time or the place
Perfect time perfect place.
This is really fucking sad. A man who should have been able to express his true self but couldn't because of the twisted shackles of religion that led to his own death. Fuck religion.
He should be out, loud and proud. This comes from deep seeded bigotry
GOP exposed.
Pro-life crowd bullying other people into suicide is very funny indeed
Guess he didn't really believe in his religion since suicide is a big no no.
He was Baptist not Catholic. Keep your sects straight.
The church believes that because life is created by God, it is sacred from conception until natural death and that suicide is self-murder, says C. Ben Mitchell, a professor of moral philosophy at SBC-affiliated Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
The big question would be does the church teach that the person loses their salvation (acceptance by God, eternal life, place in Heaven) if they kill themselves?
That would be the "big no-no" I thought the poster was referring to, not just "is it bad?"
The real big question is, who fucking cares what ancient charlatans told stone age tribes what the fake sky man thinks?
Well, it was son-of-dad's speculation we were discussing, so I guess at least him.
And me and you, since we're heavily involved.
No, definitely not me.
It's hard to keep track. Can you give me a list?
The only thing they actually care about is how they're perceived by the rest of the cult.
Basing your entire moral philosophy on an invisible sky daddy is weird and cultish. You should do some serious critical thinking when developing a moral philosophy, it shouldn't be based on ancient texts and interpreted by people who want your money.
"critical thinking" aka dismissing anything that cannot be 100% proven and holding religious scripture to a less fairer standard than most historical documents.
What does this even mean??
Strawman
You need to be more clear. I don't know what the fuck youre taking about.
Are you trying to make some weird connection between LiBeRaLs and the fact that several people in this thread are dunking on organized religion?? Because if you are, that has nothing to do with politics. That's religion. And they are very separate entities, even if there's a fuckton of conservative religious weirdos trying to push their agendas. But you can adhere to any political affiliation and still recognize that believing in magic is primitive.
I don't think you're cut out for abstract thought. Or maybe thinking in general. Don't feel bad though. Not everyone is well equipped for thinking.
I do.
Nobody’s perfect
According to another poster above he was a baptist, according to them suicide is a sin although not an unpardonable one
https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/suicide-from-a-christian-perspective/
I mean realistically Jesus himself said that there's only one unforgivable sin and that is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
Even then, he only said you would be in "danger" of hellfire for doing that.
I like to believe that we live in a universe where it is just as hard to go to hell as it is to go to heaven.
I mean even in Revelations it said that everyone would be split right up the middle the ones on the right side would go to heaven the ones on the left side would go to the "second death", and then there would be a small group of people in the middle who also get shunted off to the second death, and only a very small group of people would be given eternal life and then thrown into hellfire, namely the Antichrist and the false prophet and Satan, and their followers.
So you have to really really want it to go to hell.
There's no official spokesperson for Baptists. It's a movement, not an organisation.
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
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.
Guilt is powerful
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.
Same.
and evil wins again
Man I love it when Republicans eat their own.
Conservative paper outs conservative hypocrite and instead of admitting the truth he shoots himself.
Conservatives are all cowards at their core from what I've seen.
Also this pile of bs fta is rich AF:
even though it does not appear he had taken any public positions against LGBTQ issues that could be construed as hypocritical.
He's a Republican. Their entire party attacks LGBTQ people but this guy is supposed to get a pass?
Fuck him. Fuck conservatives who think this is ok for them to do but they can demonize anyone else who wants to dress up.
Some rather tribal thinking there
You couldn't be more wrong, but ok. I never brought up two sides you did that. This isn't tribalism it's simple observation.
Also conservatives aren't a party. Not sure what your point is here actually. You seem to want to pretend this guy was a good guy somehow but ur not making any sense really.
Mentioning conservatives doesn't make me "the other party" Whatever the hell that means.
You made the assumption there not me. Good example of projection for anyone reading.
I could be a leftist or an all out communist or a green party voter or I could....gasp....not even live in the USA...
Can we not assume this guy particularly cares what party or group you say you're apart of? It's kind of silly for you to say that applies to you but not the person whose been outed and had to be made a scapegoat of by the very party that would have otherwise claimed to support him if they had not INTENTIONALLY BULLIED him to the point of suicide. They've got blood on their hands and they know it.
It's a really weird situation. .. Here we have a conservative who is writing the kind crime novel that conservatives tend to write about trans people that utilizes a bunch of fairly stereotypical transphobic narratives that internally within the trans community would elicit disgust and ridicule and then appearing to act it out.
While it's possible they could have been trans themselves this feels a lot more like someone treating the conservative stereotype of trans people as a kink and acting on it. JK Rowling writes this kind of shlock the key difference being she, at least as far as we know, didn't write it as part of some sort of LARP. This person was in a complicated situation, even if they weren't trans they were caught doing things the right would look at as definitive evidence as trans and they likely had trans or trans ally commenters telling them that what they were doing was not okay. So you either have a trans hypocrite willing to set their own community on fire because of their subscription to conservative values and tropes or you have a rather stupid conservative secretly treating a trans psychokiller trope as their personal fetish or trying to use it to add realism to fuel their hobby of writing transphobic fiction and got caught by a community that is both extremely transphobic and equally not empathetic to it just being a kink.
For those who are claiming cognitive dissonance in the audience there are a few things at play.
Suicide is a tragedy. Many of us know what the impacts of that are on communities and loved ones. This person did some bad shit but not the sort of thing we would execute someone for doing. This is still a tragedy.
In a conservative run world being closeted and driven to suicide is a thing that has happened to generations of trans people who were not this person. It is okay to register that is not something we want to keep or return to. Feeling some empathy for trans people caught in this situation is normal.
We don't really know what this person's actual situation is but in absence of context they effectively died becoming the sort of bogeyman the right loves to spread. They effectively died making the trope seem more real which isn't great for the trans community particularly regardless of this person's potential transness.
Stalking isn't fucking cool. Neither is writing this kind of shit.
However you want to feel about this on the spectrum of "fuck this person in particular" to "that poor person, this shouldn't have happened" this all is valid. But it isn't hypocrisy, it's nuance and the right does not fucking understand nuance.
Hmmm I'm disappointed. If you say he's Bubba from Alabama, that's not the picture I'm expecting
I dunno, not to make light of the guy, but throw on a John Deere cap and a bushy goatee and I can see it.
Take that publication to court. Someone should pay for this loss of life
Problem solved.
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.