The town of Smiths Station, Alabama is reeling after its beloved mayor and local pastor, F.L. "Bubba" Copeland, committed suicide after being publicly outed by a right-wing blog for having a transgender identity.
Tragically, Copeland begged the blog to not publish the expose about his personal affairs, saying it was just a stress reliever that only his wife knew about. In an appalling show of cruelty, the 1819 News blog published the expose anyway, almost certainly provoking Copeland's suicide.
Charge the 1819 blog for outing Mayor Copeland!
What Bubba Copeland or anyone else does behind closed doors is nobody's business, and the 1819 News blog had absolutely no business outing him to the world.
When trans activists warn that transphobia kills, they are not being hyperbolic. More than 40% of the trans adults in the United States have attempted suicide and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury. It's a hate crime for school officials to out one of their students; it should be the same for ostensible news outlets to do so as well.
Charge the right-wing blog for outing a trans mayor and pushing him to suicide!
