UPDATE: According to WRBL News, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones confirmed that F.L. “Bubba” Copeland was found dead Friday evening off a Lee County Road. He died by suicide.
“I can confirm he took his own life,” Sheriff Jones told WRBL News.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office Investigations posted the following on Facebook:
On November 3rd 2023 at approximately 4:14 PM , the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received information that a welfare check was needed for Mayor Fred ‘Bubba” Copeland from Smiths Station. Deputies located Mayor Copeland in the Beulah community of Lee County and a slow pursuit was initiated. Mayor Copeland turned off of Lee road 279 on to Lee road 275 just north of Yarbroughs Crossroads and pulled over. He exited the vehicle, produced a handgun and took his own life. An ongoing investigation is being conducted by Investigators at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Copeland was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Phenix City, a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) church in Alabama; the mayor of Smiths Station, a town of less than 6,000 in Lee County, Alabama; and a convenience store owner.
Earlier this week, it was discovered by 1819 News that Copeland, who is married and has a family, had an online presence as Brittini Blaire Summerlin, a transgender woman who posted explicit content and images, including fictional erotica.
Copeland referred to himself as a “curvy transgender” on social media, which has now been deleted.
Phenix City Pastor: ‘It’s a Hobby’
When confronted by 1819 News, Copeland said he has been dressing up as a woman since his youth and claims he does it as a “hobby” to relieve “stress.” While his wife is aware of his transgender persona, Copeland informed 1819 News that the rest of the community is not.
“Just my wife knows about it,” he said. “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.”
Calling his trans persona something he does in private, Copeland said, “It’s something that I don’t intermingle with the other. 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.”
“It’s just a hobby that I have inside my own home that has not traveled outside of my home,” he added. “I have not done anything outside of my own home besides post or publish anything on the internet, and that does not affect anything with inside my jurisdiction.”
Copeland believes that what he does in private shouldn’t affect his life as a pastor. “What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life,” Copeland said.
“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?” he asked 1819 News. Copeland said that he hopes to serve another term as Smiths Station’s mayor.
On Wednesday, the day 1819 News released its report, Copeland used the pulpit at First Baptist Church of Phenix City’s Wednesday night worship service to claim he was a victim of an “internet attack.”
