RIGHT WING EXTREMISM
‘Straight Pride’ Organizer Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for Alleged Role in January 6 Insurrection
One of the organizers of a Boston anti-LGBTQ “Straight Pride” event has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Mark Sahady, 48, of Malden, Massachusetts, is facing a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Sahady is the vice president of Super Happy Fun America, the organization that held the widely-mocked “Straight Pride” parade in Boston in 2019. On its website the group claims it “is a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the Constitution, opposing gender madness and defeating cultural Marxism.”
In reality, the organization’s leaders reportedly have ties to far-right wing extremists. Sahady reportedly has endorsed throwing liberals from helicopters.
The Boston Herald adds that Sahady is facing charges that could land him in prison with a 20-year sentence.
“Sahady is alleged to have posted several messages on social media prior to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, calling for ‘millions of Americans’ to ‘show up in DC on January 6 to support the legitimate president, Donald Trump, and show Democrats what they will be facing if they continue to try and steal the presidency,’ according to court documents.”
The night before the 2021 insurrection, Super Happy Fun America bragged they were sending 11 buses to the U.S. Capitol.
Bus 1 of 11 coming to Washington DC. See you there! pic.twitter.com/66ktWpwZKL
— SuperHappyFunAmerica (@SuperHappyFunA) January 6, 2021
In late December of 2020 the group also promoted they would be traveling to D.C., echoing Donald Trump’s infamous “will be wild” call for supporters to attend his January 6 rally.
SHFA will be in DC once again on January 6th to get wild
— SuperHappyFunAmerica (@SuperHappyFunA) December 29, 2020
Award-winning journalist Kathy Curran reported on January 19, 2021, one day before Joe Biden was sworn in as President, that Sahady and Super Happy Fun America’s Director, Suzanne Ianni, had been arrested.
Members of the local group “Super Happy Fun America” were arrested by @fbiboston agents this for their alleged roles in the breach of the Capitol. Suzanne Ianni-Natick and Mark Sahady-Malden. They each face 2 charges including disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. #wcvb pic.twitter.com/UhqJDGo9vk
— Kathy Curran (@KathyReports) January 19, 2021
In 2019, The Daily Beast warned about the organizers of the “Straight Pride” parade, saying they “are not your average aggrieved white men. They are members of a far-right organization with a penchant for anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric.”
READ MORE: Boston’s ‘Straight Pride’ Parade Organizers Have Disturbing Far Right Wing Ties: Report
Sahady “has a long history participating in controversial right-wing events around Boston as an organizer for Resist Marxism,” The Daily Beast reported, adding this stunning allegation: “In Facebook posts, Sahady has endorsed the far-right ‘helicopter’ meme, which calls for liberals to be thrown from helicopters as in Augusto Pinochet’s Chile.”
“’We may get to throw anti-American communists from helicopters sooner than we thought,’ Sahady wrote in one Facebook post.”
On Friday, the DOJ stated Sahady “was initially charged by criminal complaint with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. A superseding information, filed in March of 2022, added the charge of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. A second superseding information, filed in March of 2023, added the charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. The indictment, filed April 5, 2023, adds the felony charge.”
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