An Alabama pastor and mayor posted pornography, graphic memes, and explicit photos of himself in women’s clothing online, according to a report by 1819 News, a nonprofit Alabama news site.
The media outlet shared evidence yesterday that F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station, Ala., and pastor of First Baptist Church in nearby Phenix City, leads a double life.
The news site shared screenshots from Copeland’s now-deleted Instagram and Reddit account, where he posted pictures and memes as a transgender woman, “Brittini Blaire Summerlin.” Copeland also reportedly linked to transgender fiction and erotica that he authored.
El Informe Roys (TRR) reached out to Copeland and First Baptist Church for comment. No response was received by press time.
Posting on Reddit and Instagram, his accounts previously included posts of Copeland in various female outfits, some of which featured him in women’s underwear.
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Copeland’s accounts featured several memes with transgender and heterosexual pornography, according to 1819 News. On one post, Copeland included the caption, “Do what you have to do to get f****d,” and “Once you’ve been mounted properly there is no going back.”
He also presented himself as a “transgender curvy girl” and often commented about his medical transition from male to female. On Instagram, he invited people to contact him to “chat.”
Additionally, Copeland frequently commented on other posts, referring to himself as a “thick transgender woman” and encouraging other transgender individuals to go on Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Copeland confirmed that he operated the accounts and was featured in the pictures in an interview with 1819 News, the news site reported. He reportedly told the publication that it was only a means of “getting rid of stress” and called the postings a “hobby” and a “fantasy.” He also said his erotica was “purely fiction.”
Copeland initially denied knowledge of the accounts, 1819 News reported. However, he admitted to them after the organization shared the screenshots. At the time, Copeland reportedly said only his wife was aware of the accounts.
Copeland explained that he does not feel like a woman and hasn’t undertaken a medical transition. He instead hoped to use Instagram to “make friends,” he said.
“It’s a hobby I do to relieve stress,” Copeland told 1819 News. “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.”
“What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life,” Copeland continued. “Does this have any effect on me being mayor, that I sometimes put on a dress or sometimes put on makeup? Does that have anything to do whatsoever with me being mayor or being a pastor?”
Copeland continues to serve as a pastor
Copeland continues to serve as the pastor of First Baptist Church and even addressed the recent 1819 News article in Wednesday’s evening service.
Copeland said he had “nothing to be ashamed of” in a video of the service posted on Facebook and YouTube.
“I’ve been an object of an internet attack,” he said. “The article is not who or what I am. Yes, I have taken pictures with my wife in the privacy of our home in an attempt at humor because I know I’m not a handsome man or a beautiful woman either.”
He apologized for “any embarrassment” that has been caused by his private life being made public. He added he has “nothing to be ashamed of.”
“This will not cause my life to change. This will not waiver my devotion to my family, serving my city, serving my church,” Copeland said. “I’m sorry for what my actions have caused. I’m thankful for the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who have reached out to me today in love.”
He finished his speech by claiming that 1819 News took his quotes out of context.
First Baptist explains the church is “committed to reaching and transforming people through Jesus Christ,” on its Facebook página.
Copeland works as mayor, store owner
Copeland also operates the Country Market in Salem, Ala.
Copeland has called the Smiths Station area his home the majority of his life, according to Smiths Station’s city sitio web. He has a degree in hotel and restaurant management from Auburn University.
Smiths Station, a part of Lee County, made headlines in 2019 when an EF-4 tornado went through the county and claimed 23 lives. The incident brought then President Donald Trump to the area, where he met with Copeland, and they took a photo together.
A year later, he posted the photo with Trump to Facebook and wrote, “Never in a million years did I think my first term as mayor would include dealing with a deadly tornado, global pandemic, and several student suicides,” he said.
“There is no instruction manual for this job. However, I do have my own personal manual and that is my Bible. God will sustain you through anything as long as you commit your life to Him.”
Copeland told 1819 News he hopes to serve another term as mayor.
UPDATE: On Friday, 1819 News reported that Copeland wrote fiction about murdering a real-life businesswoman in his town and posted pictures of local residents, including minors, on porn sites. The same day, Copeland took his life, according to 1819 News.
Freelance journalist Liz Lykins escribe for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.
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32 Respuestas
If anyone from that church shows up on Sunday. Don’t kid yourselves. You’re a groomer or enabler. And don’t dare use scripture to make excuses for his behavior.
So if a biological male Baptist pastor identifies as a transgender woman, will the SBC remove him from the pulpit due to him being an ordained woman pastor? What if he changes his title to director? Just wondering.
There are far more reasons than “claiming to be a female” to remove him. But the SBC can’t remove any pastor. The local church has to. If they choose not to, to SBC can just choose to no longer be in fellowship with them by removing them from the SBC.
The heart of the problem:
“What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life,”
Exactly, but only because he does such questionable things that the SBC finds contrary to him being a pastor, in private.
If he was running a secret puppy rescue in his private life, we wouldn’t know his name. But what fun would that be for him/her?
That this even needs a comment is a sign of the times, and an indictment on the condition of the church in America. God help us.
Pastor Bubba tries to redefine ‘private life’. Sharing your ‘private life’ online doesn’t leave your ‘private life’ private any more. As far as the theological and relational is concerned, one barely knows where to begin with someone who is quite happy to misrepresent themselves to an unsuspecting public.
BTW, Bubba, I don’t think God sees us as having a private life. Think about it.
I mean…I saw this in my email and I just had to laugh aloud. I was listening to a live version of Dire Straits playing the Sultans of Swing and voila here is something you might want to read.
I’m confused. Isn’t HE the one that made his “private life” open for public discussion when he posted on Instagram and Reddit? Just another in a long list of disingenuous pastors. How discouraging, disappointing, and disgusting.
The apostasy is unfolding but Jesus is coming soon!
Why is that every time a new revelation of egregious sin is exposed, the bandwagon folks say, “Jesus is coming soon”. You don’t know, I don’t know. We don’t know. Please refrain from automatically pasting this to the latest sin of someone.
“ ‘ What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life,’ Copeland [said].”
That attitude explains everything.
I’m confused. Are we supposed to say, “Oh, that’s terrible,” or celebrate Bubba and Brittini’s being their authentic selves?
I’d like to say this guy is deceived. But in light of 1 Tim 2:14, maybe it’s just the “Brittini” side that’s deceived.
I hope this pastor is ready for CNN, Fox News and especially CBN News (the late Pat Robertson’s organization) if and when they pick up this story. Aside from that, it’s ridiculous to claim his private life and “holy life” are separate and nobody’s business. Last time I checked, the New Testament says that a pastor or elde should be above reproach. My take is that Bubba Copeland is only a Christian pastor because of the power and influence it affords him; he’s not a real believer at all. There are many such shysters and flywheels behind the pulpit for that very reason.
Progressive “Christians” new best friend!
And now the news is reporting that he has taken his own life. This whole thing is tragic.
I agree…truly sad all the way around. Perhaps his posting on Instagram and Reddit was a cry for help, and despite what he said, perhaps he was ashamed and had a tremendous amount of guilt…only God knows. I pray for his soul, his family, the community where he was mayor, and the church he pastored.
He just committed suicide today. Very sad.
I think that they really should update the stories with the details about his death. Before taking his life, he had said that he did this as a way to goof off at home with his wife and found it to be a way to de-stress as someone who had a multiple jobs (a small business owner, mayor, and pastor) with a large amount of responsibility, and that he was not transgender. He was a leader in a small town who by all accounts was a kind, gracious, and committed servant of his small community who was so widely publicly mocked that he snapped and killed himself.
In all honesty, there are far worse people as pastors who the SBC has absolutely no issue with. This is a guy from a small town whose dirty secret (which is less disqualifying than what many, many SBC pastors have in their closet or just out in public) got aired widely because it fit people’s culture war narrative, and now his wife and children have to live without him forever.
Thank you for this comment Lindsey. I am so sad. And angry that he received such hate.
Wonder what those of you who condemned this man feel now. “Christians” seem the best at shooting their own wounded. I am pretty sure that Jesus said he who is without sin cast the first stone. And evangelicals wonder why people do not think highly of them-it is because they are smugly self-righteous.
It’s a very tragic ending to this story. I’m torn between empathy for a fellow sinner who struggled with his identity and unforeseen and unintended consequences for living a double life.
You struggle when you deal with it, NOT when you hide it.
The way we speak about people matters.
The man has killed himself. I hope some of you have the decency to mourn his death for the human tragedy that it is, regardless of your views on transgender issues. Christ have mercy.
A very sad story. Lots of hurtful postings on Instagram with people posting scriptures and saying he is hell bound. No one knows that. He was a city mayor, a pastor, a family man who was bigger than life. God will open his loving arms and welcome him home. Christians and church folks can be mean and hurtful. Let him rest in peace.
I had the opportunity to work with Bubba in 2019 doing storm relief. I had great conversations with him and know him as a man who loved Jesus and cared very deeply for people. He was not perfect but no one is. I will cast no stone. This is very sad and hits me hard. I pray for his family and community.
We all have struggles that we deal with, and no man is perfect. There is one thing to know that there is a REAL devil out there who wants to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY every child of God. Prayers for the family and as Christians we have a hope in Jesus…. Pray without ceasing until we breakthrough in victory.
“ There is one thing to know that there is a REAL devil out there who wants to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY every child of God. ”
Very true, Irene.
So far, the church as a whole has avoided wrestling with how the demonic realm has been steady at work altering the natural genetic order of the Creator into something it was not meant to be – aka transhumanism. Probably everyone reading this has been physically affected to some degree by this agenda. Ever notice how many products in the grocery store today have been labeled in fine print as being biologically engineered?
Hopefully, this tragedy will cause the awareness level to rise and become part of the much needed discussion.
When a believer chooses poorly and thinks he has two lives ….private and public and then what is done in darkness comes to the light. Why are those of us who ask questions or comment on the death & destruction that is left in the path of sin , why are we accused of throwing the first stone ?? Are we called to shut up and check our brains at the door ? No I am not condemning the sinner to hell, I don’t want that job, I’m not remotely capable of having the mind of our Lord.
In this pastors case , I see a man who was deceived at some point by the evil one and life went down hill after that point. The destruction and stain left on his entire family ( world wide church family included )will last for generations.