All people from all communities are welcome, so long as they show mutual respect.While Boston’s planned “straight pride parade” has created a fountain of hilarious jokes, there is a serious issue at hand with organizers’ close ties to far-right groups. We just want to have our own celebration just like everybody else has a right to.
“We’re a sexual orientation just like many others,” he said. Hugo recently described the parade - which critics have panned as homophobic - as a celebration of the straight sexual orientation. “It got a lot of news coverage, so it obviously had to do with the parade,” Sahady told CNN. Super Happy Fun America vice president Mark Sahady, who received similar envelopes, said he believes the group was targeted because of the parade.
Authorities are working to determine if it’s connected to the other letters. “Even if it’s nothing in it, it’s still terrorism as far as I’m concerned because obviously it’s meant to intimidate us.”īoston police said a suspicious letter addressed to City Hall was opened by an employee Monday. “We, of course, called the police, I mean why would we open something like that,” he told CBS. Super Happy Fun America chief John Hugo said he and the two other group members didn’t open the envelopes.
“If anything, it will make us more determined,” he told NBC10. He said the letters won’t stop the parade from going forward. Racioppi is a member of Super Happy Fun America, which plans to hold the controversial straight pride parade in Beantown on Aug. The feds are working with local agencies to find out who is behind the mailings. The FBI said there was no threat to public safety and authorities said the letters appeared to be a legal use of the mail. I could hear something shaking … it was probably bigger than grains of sand and I was immediately suspicious,” he added. “It wasn’t powder, it was bigger than powder, it felt more granular in nature, bigger than sand. And then I shook it and you could hear something rattling around inside,” he said. And so all of these are red flags for me. “I flipped it over and there was tape around where it’s sealed. The letters - which were delivered via the US mail - did not have return addresses, organizer Samson Racioppi of Salisbury told the local CBS affiliate. One of the verses, according to the station, was Psalms 86:15: “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” The Massachusetts state police bomb squad and the FBI responded to Woburn, Salisbury and Malden, where the suspicious letters showed up with “Happy Pride” signed in rainbow colors, a source close to the probe told NBC10. Glitter-filled letters containing Bible verses were sent to organizers of Boston’s upcoming Straight Pride Parade, prompting a massive law enforcement response - but police said they appeared to be perfectly legal, according to reports. Teacher yanked US flag from class, encouraged students to pledge to gay pride banner Straight women: You could be lesbian and not realize it, TikTok says 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye': How a Bible thumper became a gay advocate and icon