Son of Ala. pastor who killed himself over cross-dressing exposure says ‘dad made me strong’
Carter Copeland, the son of late mayor of Smiths Station, Alabama, and pastor of the First Baptist Church of Phenix City, F.L. "Bubba" Copeland, who fatally shot himself after his secret online alter ego known as the "transgender curvy girl” was outed, remembered his father as a hero who made him strong at a memorial service held in his honor last Thursday.
“I know that my dad made me strong, he taught me right,” Carter Copeland said of his father at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City where family and friends gathered to remember the departed pastor who was hailed as a “larger than life figure” according to al.com.
The pastor’s son recalled how the greatest lesson he learned from his father “was something he so immensely struggled with. He encouraged me to "make my happy."
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“He told me that his way of ‘making happy’ was by uplifting as many people as possible during his day,” he said.
Carter Copeland then recalled an encounter his father once had with an irritable McDonald’s drive-thru worker and how he handled it.
“My dad looked at her and he told her — the craziest woman I’ve ever seen in my life — that her hair looked good. I was mortified but she smiled from ear to ear,” he recalled. “And while that may not have been true, that was my father’s way of at least touching one person throughout his day.”
Although his father broke down under the pressure of public criticism, Carter Copeland said his father taught him to depend on God when faced with “obstacles or just downright awful, awful people.”
“Just be reliant on the Lord and fight with kindness and a pure heart. This is the greatest lesson my father has ever taught me,” he said.
“So I promise to get through this and fight to bring love to this awfully dark world,” he added. “I will choose happiness when others choose bitterness. ... Dad, I want you to know my world always has and will always begin with you and end with you. Regardless of the hate, I will respond with love.”
A report published Nov. 1 by 1819 News, a news website launched by conservative think-tank, Alabama Policy Institute, highlighted photos from several social media accounts operated by F.L. "Bubba" Copeland, including on Reddit, where he presented himself as a trans person under the pseudonym Brittini Blaire Summerlin.
The late married 49-year-old father is pictured wearing makeup, a blonde wig, and even some of his wife's clothes. Using the Summerlin persona, the Baptist pastor regularly commented on posts saying he was a "thick transgender woman." The account is documented sharing self-authored trans fiction and erotica as well as trans pornography.
F.L. "Bubba" Copeland was also accused of encouraging other trans-identified individuals to go on opposite-sex hormones.
The late pastor’s friend, David White, who knew him for 30 years, said in his eulogy that, “He may have been the hardest-working person I’ve ever met.
He recalled how Pastor Copeland’s favorite saying was, “Ain’t God Good?” and was proud of his three children. White called his friend’s death a “tragedy” that should not be repeated.
“The tragedy from this week will be compounded if we, his friends, do nothing,” he said.
“If the next time a friend becomes the focus of hate, may we all speak up a little sooner and a little louder to at least say, ‘this is my friend,’” White said. “If we can do that, then we may say we learned.”
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