Straight Pride organiser among Trump supporters arrested for storming Capitol building

The FBI arrested Mark Sahady following social media posts the group had shared boasting about travelling to Washington.

Men scaling the walls of a government building

Mark Sahady, the organiser of a Straight Pride event in Boston, has been arrested by the FBI in connection to the horrific storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Sahady was identified when FBI investigators matched photographs taken inside the Capitol with social media posts the group had shared announcing their intention to travel to Washington. Sahady was arrested alongside Suzanne Ianni, a supporter and attendee of Straight Pride, who was also depicted in the social media posts.

Sahady is the founder and Vice President of Super Happy Fun America, the organiser of Straight Pride events in Boston. The group, which boasts on its website “It’s great to be straight,” shared that they had arranged buses to bring hundreds of Trump supporters from Massachusetts to Washington, DC. The pair can be seen in the centre of a photo with the caption “Bus 1 of 11 coming to Washington DC. See you there. The FBI were able to match this photo to one showing the pair amongst a screaming mob inside the Capitol.

Ianni, a Nantucket Town Meeting Member, told local media in advance of the violence that she was the lead organiser for the buses, she is also a board member of Massachusetts Women for Trump.

The pair face charges of disorderly conduct and entering or remaining in the Capitol building unlawfully. During a virtual court appearance, William Bloomer, an Assistant US Attorney, said of Sahady, “The defendant was part of an organised horde, whose actions collectively resulted in the murder of one police officer, four other deaths and at least 60 other people injured.”

Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States this afternoon, a move that can’t come quick enough, as he attempts to heal the huge divisions caused by the Trump presidency. The FBI continue their investigations of the rioters and insurrectionists of Capitol Hill.

© 2021 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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