Fred "Bubba" Copeland in his role as pastor (Facebook)
A far-right news site's reporting on a small-town pastor and mayor's cross-dressing lifestyle served no purpose other than to embarrass and humiliate the articles' subject, who killed himself last Friday (11/3/23), two days after the five-part series began at 1819 News. That's from an editorial opinion published today at donaldwatkins.com.
The funeral for Fred "Bubba Copeland, who served as mayor of Smiths Station, AL, and pastor at First Baptist Church of Phenix City, will be at 3p.m. on Thursday (11/9/23) at First Baptist Church of Phenix City. A visitation will be from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Vance Brooks Funeral Home in Phenix City.
Mayor of Smiths Station is a part-time position, and elections are nonpartisan -- so Copeland, 62, was not openly aligned with either political party.
Copeland also operated a small business, The Country Market in Salem, AL, and served on the Lee County Board of Education for 11 years before becoming mayor. Donald Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney who has become a leading voice in online investigative journalism, writes under the headline "Fred L. Copeland Commits Suicide After 1819 Reporter Craig Monger Outed His Cross-dressing Lifestyle":
Fred Lavon ''Bubba'' Copeland called the Smiths Station area of Lee County, Alabama, his home for most of his life. He attended Smiths Station High School and obtained a hotel and restaurant management degree from Auburn University. Copeland served on the Lee County Board of Education for 11 years before becoming Mayor in 2016.
In addition to serving as Smiths Stations’ Mayor, Fred Copeland owned and operated The Country Market in the Salem community and served as a pastor at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City, Alabama.
On November 3, 2023, Copeland killed himself after 1819 News reporter Craig Monger “outed” his cross-dressing lifestyle on November 1st. Occasionally, Copeland dressed as a woman and posted photos and comments about his persona as a cross-dresser under a pseudonym on a private social-media site.
Fred Copeland leaves behind his loving wife Angela and three children.
In Smiths Station, Copeland became a fairly big fish in a very small pond, but he still had a modest profile, Watkins reports:
Smiths Station is a city with a population of 5,381 (as of 2021). The city has no strategic value to the state’s growth or prosperity, to the extent that state officials claim such economic factors actually exist in Alabama.
Fred Copeland was not a major political player in the state. He was not on the board of any major corporation or state university in Alabama.
So, why did 1819 News and reporter Craig Monger “out” Copeland?
Alabama has no shortage of much bigger fish, who engage in dubious activities, that Monger and 1819 News could have targeted, Watkins writes:
Craig Monger had to know that his article would make Copeland’s life unbearable in a deep "Red State" that is filled with hatred toward its LGBTQ+ citizens. Nearly every White politician in the state who runs for local, state, and/or federal office campaigns on a platform of hatred toward members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Thankfully, the state's Black community is more tolerant of the lifestyle choices of the state’s LGBTQ+ citizens. Actor, filmmaker, and playwright Tyler Perry made an entire Hollywood career by cross-dressing as "Madea."
There are scores of high-impact players in major Alabama corporations, at flagship state universities, inside the halls of state government, on Alabama’s 19-judge appellate courts, and on the federal bench in Alabama who Craig Monger could have “outed” in a legitimate pursuit of the public interest. These individuals are well-known within the state’s community of legacy and online journalists.
So why did 1819 focus on "Bubba" Copeland? A detailed answer to that question remains unclear, but it appears the news site simply made an editorial decision that Copeland's double life merited coverage. Here is the five-part series the website wound up publishing:
(1) 11/1/23 -- "The secret life of Smiths Station Mayor and Baptist pastor F.L. 'Bubba' Copeland as a 'transgender curvy girl': 'It’s a hobby I do to relieve stress"
(2) 11/2/23 -- "Smiths Station Mayor 'Bubba' Copeland in Baptist pastor role downplays sexually explicit online alter ego — 'I have nothing to be ashamed of'"
(3) 11/3/23 -- "'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"
(4) 11/3/23 -- "Alabama Baptist leadership responds to Smiths Station pastor's sexual, transgender online behavior: 'We pray for the pastor and his family'"
(5) 11/3/23 -- "Smiths Station Mayor, Phenix City pastor takes life"
How did 1819 become a presence in the news world? Its roots are connected to the Alabama Policy Institute (API), which U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) founded after being active with Focus on the Family. Palmer served as API president for 24 years before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, serving Alabama's 6th Congressional District. Palmer recently declared his candidacy for U.S. House speaker before withdrawing two days later -- with the position eventually going to Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Wikipedia provides background on 1819 News:
1819 News is an American far-right news website that focuses on the state of Alabama. Its editor-in-chief is Jeff Poor, a former staff member of Breitbart News.
Based in Alabama, the publication was launched in October 2021 as a subsidiary of the Alabama Policy Institute, but has been an independent non-profit organization since January 2023. In February 2023, YouTube suspended the account of 1819 News: The Podcast for violating the website's community guidelines.
In 2023, 1819 News posted personally identifying information about Bubba Copeland, a mayor in Alabama, outing him as enjoying cross-dressing; Copeland committed suicide a few days after the story was published.
1819 News began as a podcast, the 1819 News Recap, released by the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative state think tank, in 2020. It started publication as an Alabama statewide news organization in October 2021, under the institute's media wing. Former Alabama state senator Phil Williams, then the institute's chief policy officer, was involved in its creation, as was Alabama Policy Institute president Caleb Crosby. 1819 News president and CEO, Bryan Dawson, said he wanted to focus on the state of Alabama after the 2020 United States presidential election. At its launching, 1819 News was also overseen by a not-for-profit board of directors, separate from the Alabama Policy Institute. The name 1819 News is a reference to the year that the state of Alabama was admitted to the union.
The website became fully independent of the Alabama Policy Institute in January 2023 and is now managed by a non-profit LLC of the same name. In February 2023, YouTube suspended the account of 1819 News: The Podcast for violating the website's community guidelines; 1819 News characterized the suspension as "Big Tech censorship" in a follow-up article.
1819 News is led by president and CEO Bryan Dawson, who also runs the website's podcasts. Journalist and sportswriter Ray Melick was the website's first editor-in-chief before his retirement in July 2022. Jeff Poor, a radio show host and former Breitbart News contributor, was hired as a political editor in February 2022 and became the editor-in-chief in June 2023.
In Donald Watkins' view, 1819 News went off the rails with its coverage of the Fred "Bubba" Copeland story. Watkins writes:
For reasons that are known only to the 1819 News organization, Craig Monger bypassed Alabama's high-impact players and targeted Fred Copeland for public destruction. This was a senseless act of gratuitous "character assassination" that led to Copeland's physical death.
Interestingly, Craig Monger made no assertion in his article that Copeland's private cross-dressing activities interfered in any way with the faithful performance of his duties as mayor of Smiths Station. Likewise, Monger presented no facts in his article that Copeland was grooming minors to enter the cross-dressing lifestyle.
The sole purpose of Craig Monger's "outing" article was to embarrass and humiliate Fred and Angela Copeland. Monger was successful in this regard.
After Fred Copeland was "outed" by Craig Monger, he decided his life was no longer worth living. Copeland killed himself with a gun.
What public interest was served by Craig Monger's article "outing" Fred Copeland? Absolutely none!
