An Alabama preacher and politician killed himself Friday two days after being outed for having a secret life he shared online as a “transgender curvy girl.”

  • papalonian@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s probably gonna be a lot of trolls in here, but I have to say this is incredibly sad. I do hope his sermons preached love and acceptance rather than the hate that caused him to take his life.

    • Elliott@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The guy supported the party that routinely shits on minority groups…but when they turn in him it’s sad? He fed the rapid dog that turned and bit him.

      • papalonian@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, I find it sad when someone is driven to suicide. It’s weird, I know.

        I feel that a man who dresses up as a woman in their free time did not decide for himself that gay/trans people are evil. This man probably had been lying to himself and others about who he was for decades, living through self-hate and trying to convince himself that he was “normal” and not “one of those fags” and the like.

        Now that he’s accepted himself and thought that he was safe to express who he was in private online communities (obviously stupid for someone in his position), his whole world is coming down on him. Now everyone knows he’s “one of them”.

        I don’t know enough about the guy to comment with certainty on what harm he may have caused as mayor, if he actively made life harder for gay/ trans people then that’s really shitty of him. All I’m saying is, things don’t happen in a vacuum, and this guy is just as much a victim of hate and bigotry as anyone else who’s killed themselves over it.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah exactly. Some folks pass the point of sympathy. Folks like Joseph McCarthy, people who run conversion camps, Milo Yannanopolos, Blaire White, etc. But it’s hard to hit that point. I generally draw that line after having accepted yourself or begun living as yourself. And even then, I don’t want these people dead, I want them to change and work to undo the harm they’ve done.

          Targeted outing is an important tactic. It’s a way to force the people in power to own up to their hypocrisy and to stop people from hiding their true self behind hate. That’s not what this is, this is outing someone to cause them harm and to scare others. It’s an old harassment technique that’s been done as long as the internet has been around to try to hurt trans people, and it’s not ok.

        • Elliott@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          He supported a party of hate and bigotry but let’s all feel bad when that same hate and bigotry are directed at him.

      • ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        It’s easy for me to judge living in anonymity in a progressive city with a supporting network around me (I’m trans).

        More likely she was raised conservative, built a career and family around it, in a small southern town where maintaining that facade is the only way to be accepted, then realized “oh shit I’m trans” and panicked.

        At that point, I can totally understand how difficult it would be to escape decades of baggage. Many trans ppl are reluctant to come out for precisely those reasons: career, family, lack of acceptance. The result is turmoil.

        I view her more as a lost trans sibling who was born into a cruel world and should be mourned, while not excusing her poor choices of political affiliation. I’m sure it was a daily struggle trying to reconcile what conservatives were saying about people like her, with her own identity.

        Not everyone is strong enough to fight this fight.

        • Elliott@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          She supported a party that hates trans people. Nobody could have seen this coming. 🙄

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Seriously. He wouldn’t have killed himself if he was surrounded by accepting people.

        It’s still tragic that someone felt they couldn’t be themself, but when you spend your time empowering intolerance and then find yourself a target of that intolerance? I have no tears to spare.

    • cricket98@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah it’s so sad that some giga pervert killed himself after being exposed for writing erotic fanfiction about him murdering and taking over the life of a local business woman and posting his transition fetish memes using real children.