'Straight Pride' parade organizers and bat-wielding man arrested for taking part in Capitol riot

Two members of an organization that put together the Straight Pride parade in Boston two years ago and another man who assaulted cops with a baseball bat during the MAGA riot at the United States Capitol on January 6 have been charged. 

Suzanne Ianni, a 59-year-old Natick, Massachusetts, town meeting member, and Mark Sahady, 46, of Malden, Massachusetts, were arrested by federal agents at their homes on Tuesday, the FBI said. 

The two were photographed on buses that were organized to take Trump supporters to Washington ahead of the siege at the Capitol, authorities said.

They are charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, authorities said. 

Authorities said Ianni is involved with Super Happy Fun America, a group that organized a ‘straight pride’ parade in Boston in 2019 that was meant to be a counterpoint to gay pride parades. 

She worked with the group to organize buses to take people to Washington ahead of the rally and riot on January 6, authorities said. 

Sahady is the group’s vice president, authorities said in court documents.

Both of them were identified in a picture of a group of people that Super Happy Fun America posted on Twitter with the caption: ‘Bus 1 of 11 coming to Washington DC See you there!’ authorities said. 

According to investigators, Sahady went by the Twitter name ‘Mark Shady.’

An account with that name includes several Election Day posts which read: ‘…Let’s plan for a large rally at the inauguration. If Trump wins, we will be there to support him. If Biden wins, we will be there to oppose him and send a message to that tyranny with be resisted.’ 

They were also photographed together inside the Capitol, authorities said.

An email seeking comment was sent to Ianni’s lawyer. An attorney for Sahady declined to comment.

The Super Happy Fun America web site says that it is geared toward the ‘straight community.’ Its motto is ‘It’s Great to be Straight.’ 

In August 2019, hundreds took part in the ‘Straight Pride’ parade in Boston – only to be outnumbered by counter-protesters. 

The organizers of the parade sparked widespread outrage and claims of homophobia with ties to white supremacist groups. 

Sahady was once part of Resist Marxism, a conservative group founded by the infamous New Zealand activist Kyle Chapman in 2017.  

Meanwhile, authorities said that Emanuel Jackson, who is alleged to have been caught on camera assaulting a police officer with a baseball bat during the riot, turned himself into police on Monday. 

According to federal investigators, Jackson punched one police officer and swung at others with a baseball bat while MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol building. 

He surrendered to the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department on Monday, according to investigators.

Jackson is said to have identified himself in images taken from the riots while confessing to assaulting officers, according to the federal complaint.

In photos attached to the charge sheet, a man that authorities say is Jackson is seen wearing a dark-colored hooded sweater, a tan backpack, and a blue face mask. 

At around 2pm, the MAGA mob started going up the staircase toward the US Capitol’s Senate Wing entrance at around 2pm on January 6. 

Surveillance footage from that time is alleged to show Jackson ‘making a fist and repeatedly striking a US Capitol Police officer … while attempting to forcefully enter the building.’

The federal government alleges that Jackson was also among the first rioters to enter the Capitol building just after 2:45pm.

Just before 5pm, as the crowd was in a standoff with police near the Capitol Building’s West Terrance, Jackson was said to have been armed with a metal baseball bat.

‘The defendant is observed repeatedly striking a group of both US Capitol and Metropolitan Police Department uniformed officers with the baseball bat,’ according to federal investigators. 

Jackson was charged on Monday with assaulting an officer of the United States; assaulting an officer of the US with a deadly or dangerous weapon; obstruction of an official proceeding; unlawful entry and physical violence on restricted building or grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. 

More than 50 law enforcement officials were injured during the rioting. One of them, Brian Sicknick of the US Capitol Police, died of his injuries. 

As of Tuesday evening, a total of 99 people have been charged in connection with the riots at the US Capitol.