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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    11 months 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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      11 months 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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      11 months 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.