Alabama mayor Bubba Copeland's son praises his 'larger than life father' who 'made me strong, he taught me right' before his suicide after he was outed over double life as 'curvy transgender girl'

The son of an Alabama mayor who shot and killed himself after being outed as a cross-dresser has paid tribute to his father, describing him as kind, thoughtful and 'larger than life'.

Fred 'Bubba' Copeland, 49, died after police approached him for a wellness check on November 3, shooting himself in the head as they approached him.

Days earlier, images of him dressed in women's clothing, wigs and make up were shared online, amid claims he also posted 'explicit trans porn' and used the identity of local women to create erotic fiction.

On Thursday, friends and family of Copeland gathered at the First Baptist Church in Phenix City, where Copeland was the lead pastor, in addition to being mayor of neighboring Smiths Station and running a grocery store.

The father of three - a son, Carter, from his first marriage and daughters AbbyKate and Ally from his second marriage, to Angela - was remembered as warm-hearted and generous, AL.com reported.

Carter Copeland told the congregation on Thursday that the greatest lesson he learned from his father 'was something he so immensely struggled with. He encouraged me to 'make my happy.''

Carter continued: 'He told me that this was his way of 'making happy' was by uplifting as many people as possible during his day.'

He then told how he witnessed this first hand, when he and his father went to McDonald's and came across a furious employee.

'My dad looked at her and he told her – the craziest woman I've ever seen in my life – that her hair looked good,' Carter recalled.

'I was mortified but she smiled from ear to ear.

'And while that may not have been true, that was my father's way of at least touching one person throughout his day.'

Carter said his father told him: 'When you are faced with obstacles or just downright awful, awful people, just be reliant on the Lord and fight with kindness and a pure heart.'

Carter added: 'This is the greatest lesson my father has ever taught me.'

Carter said that he was thankful for his upbringing.

'I know that my dad made me strong, he taught me right,' he said.

'So I promise to get through this and fight to bring love to this awfully dark world.

'I will choose happiness when others choose bitterness.

'Dad, I want you to know my world always has and will always begin with you and end with you. Regardless of the hate, I will respond with love.'

Another speaker, Reverend Jim Wooten, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Jackson, said the moment he met Copeland was 'mythical' and etched in his memory.

'I remembered this larger than life figure emerging from a cloud of barbeque smoke with sweat pouring off his brow,' Wooten said.

He said Copeland was 'a delightful raconteur and a fresh wind of the sprit'.

He added: 'If there was anything Bubba loved nearly as much as his family it was his city.'

He tearfully told of Copeland's struggle with his mental health, saying his friend had 'that old black dog that followed us, that black dog of depression.'

He told mourners: 'Whatever struggle you may be facing, you are not alone.

'If you don't have anybody close enough to reach out to, dial 988, put it in your phone. 9-8-8. It's the suicide and crisis hotline. There is a caring individual there waiting to listen to you. You are precious, you have meaning, you are important.'

Copeland was remembered for his response to the 2019 suicide of a local teenager.

He erected signs in the town which said: 'You are worthy of love', 'Don't give up', and 'You matter'. 

David White, a friend of Copeland's for 30 years, said he 'may have been the hardest-working person I've ever met.'

He added: 'The tragedy from this week will be compounded if we, his friends, do nothing.

'If the next time a friend becomes the focus of hate, may we all speak up a little sooner and a little louder to at least say, 'this is my friend.' If we can do that, then we may say we learned.

'If these changes in us make our small part of this world a little kinder, a little more understanding, a little more loving one to another, then we, too, soon enough will be able to say what Bubba said: 'Ain't God Good?'

His online life became public on November 1 when local news website 1819 posted the first of several items describing posts he made, using an alias on Instagram and Reddit as a 'transgender curvy girl' - with photos of him wearing women's clothing and makeup.

After the disclosure, the state Baptist organization said it was aware of allegations of 'unbiblical behavior' involving the pastor. 

A nationally syndicated radio show also said Copeland should be ashamed because the Bible teaches that it is an 'abomination' for a man to dress in women's clothing.

Copeland was also accused of using the names and photos of local residents, including a minor, without permission in posts, including the real name of a local businesswoman in a fictional story about a man who develops a deadly obsession with taking over her identity.

Another claim included that Copeland's secret social media accounts also shared images of a local brother and sister that were used to make it appear as though the boy had transitioned.

Copeland told the news site that he donned women's clothing as a way to release stress, but was not transgender. 

He stood before his congregation on November 1 to apologize and said that the photos taken in the privacy of his own home were an attempt at humor.

But just days later, the beloved pastor was dead.

'I just want to ask you people who thought it humorous to publicly ridicule him. Are you happy now? What crime did he commit?' wrote Larry DiChiara, a former school superintendent who knew Copeland from when he served on a county school board.

Chiara revealed on Facebook that Copeland had been struggling in the days leading up to his death.

DiChiara said he reached out to Copeland by text last Thursday and the mayor responded that 'it's been some very dark days.'

'When this story came out, it was already painful and hurtful just to see it and know that, that this is going to cause a lot of grief for Bubba and his family. 

'But as I read what was out there, it just was getting progressively worse, and I just saw some real ugliness in people and their comments,' DiChiara said. 

Jack Drescher, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and the author of 'Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man' said outing can be an act of violence and in this case it 'precipitated a violent response.'

Drescher said people can have reasons to keep sexual or gender identities and behaviors, such as cross-dressing, secret because they don't feel like they would be accepted.

'It was probably a great source of shame and embarrassment to be outed like that,' Drescher said.