A Look Inside Bubba Copeland’s Secret Life: How Alabama’s Mayor and Pastor Adopted a Second Personality Online — a Curvy Menopausal Girl Named Brittini — Before He Killed Himself
Bubba Copeland was a pillar of the Alabama community until Nov. 3, the day he committed suicide after a slow-speed police chase in Beulah.
The 49-year-old pastor of Phoenix City’s First Baptist Church was outed by conservative news site 1819 for dressing up as a “transgender curvy girl” named Brittini Blaire Summerlin two days before his suicide.
Even after Copeland’s death, Dan Elkins was forced to delete hateful comments on the Facebook page of First Baptist Church in Phoenix City.
The politician was more than a man with a female alter ego: he was considered an upstanding member of the community who even met with then-President Donald Trump after a devastating tornado in 2019.
What else was Copeland known for before his death, and how did Brittini Blaire Summerlin’s creation possibly play a role in his suicide?
Bubba Copeland committed suicide via gunshot wound on November 3 in Beulah, Alabama – two days after dressing up as a ‘transgender curvy girl’ named Brittini Blaire Summerlin
Brittini was an online persona created by Copeland as a way to relieve stress. He never planned a gender transition, but has been cross-dressing since childhood
Who was Bubba Copeland?
The Baptist pastor and mayor of Alabama, born on May 27, 1974 in Columbus, Georgia, the son of Fred L. Copeland, Sr. and Cora Annell Flowers Green.
He has three sisters: Kimberlee, Terri and Ginger, and two brothers: Mike and Bill.
He attended Smiths Station High School and graduated from Auburn University with a degree in hotel and restaurant management.
Copeland owned and operated the Country Market supermarket in Salem, Alabama and continued to do so until his death.
He eventually became senior pastor at Phoenix City First Baptist Church after previously attending the congregation for more than 30 years.
Copeland graduated from Smiths Station High School and earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management from Auburn University
He was a devoted husband to his wife, Angela Simpson Copeland – a well-known elementary school teacher in the Smiths Station School District
He and his wife Angela shared three children: Carter L. Copeland, AbbyKate Elizabeth Dawson and Ally Catherine Dawson.
Former President Donald Trump met with Copeland after being impressed by the mayor’s response after an EF-4 tornado struck Beauregard, Alabama, killing 23 people
Copeland first entered politics in 2008 after winning a two-term District 5 seat on the Lee County School Board.
While serving on the Lee County School Board, he managed to remove portable classrooms from high school, and in increasing the number of computers in a classroom from one to three between 2008-2012.
Copeland was eventually elected mayor of Smiths Station, Alabama, in 2016 with a vision to grow Lee County in the state.
“I want to work with the businesses we have in this city to help them grow and understand their needs,” he told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
He later met Donald Trump in March 2019 after the president was impressed with Copeland’s work in the relief effort following an EF-4 tornado that struck nearby Beauregard earlier that month.
Outside of his work in politics and the Baptist church, Copeland was a devoted husband his wifeSmiths Station school teacher Angela Simpson Copeland.
The two had three children: son, Carter L. Copeland, and daughters, AbbyKate Elizabeth Dawson and Ally Catherine Dawson.
How did Bubba create his online persona Brittini Blaire Summerlin?
Copeland started his “hobby” of cross-dressing when he was young, but he didn’t clarify when he started playing Brittini Blaire Summerlin, according to 1819.
‘It’s a hobby I do to relieve stress. “I am under a lot of stress and I am not undergoing a medical transition,” Copeland said in a statement to the news site.
‘It’s just a bit of a character that I play. … I don’t go looking for requests or anything like that.”
Copeland added, “It’s just a hobby that I have in my own home that hasn’t traveled outside my home.”
“I have done nothing outside of my own home other than post or publish anything on the Internet, and that does not affect anything within my jurisdiction,” he said.
His hobby — which he said his wife was fully aware of — also included publishing at least four pieces of transgender porn and identity theft fiction on a website.
One of Copeland’s stories goes into detail about transitioning into a real woman, describing things like hormone treatment and buying women’s clothing. The details became more erotic and eventually the story discusses how the woman could be killed
The narrator discussed the steps one must take to “transition” and completely change his body to match that of a real local woman living in his town.
It also explained how he began to gently insert himself as the unknown lady in her friend group and went into graphic details about how he seduced her husband.
The end of the story then expresses the narrator’s plan to kill the woman and take her place in society permanently.
Did the outing and its aftermath lead to Bubba’s death?
Copeland shot himself in the head following a police chase after police were called for a welfare check.
It came just two days after his double life was exposed in 1819, telling them he hoped to serve another year as mayor of Smiths Station.
He made a brief statement to his church the night the story broke, telling the congregation he was the victim of an “internet attack” and apologizing for his actions.
“I apologize for the embarrassment caused by my private and personal life becoming public,” he said during his time in service.
Copeland made a statement about his double life during a sermon on November 1
Dan Elkins deleted several hateful comments on the Baptist Church’s Facebook page, but a memorial has been erected in his honor
‘This isn’t going to change my life. This will not waver my commitment to my family, to serving my city and to serving my church.”
Copeland added, “I am grateful for God’s grace and willingness to forgive. I have nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of things that were said were taken out of context.”
His family has not discussed the matter, and for now it is uncertain whether the outing and its aftermath led to Copeland’s suicide.
According to his obituary, flowers are accepted or donations can be made to First Baptist Church, 2608 Summerville Road, Phoenix City, AL 36867 or PAWS.
A funeral service will be held at First Baptist Church in Phoenix City on November 9 at 3:00 PM EST.