Organizers of Boston’s so-called “Straight Pride” march have revealed that threatening envelopes posted to them and which prompted them to call law enforcement turned out to be full of nothing more hazardous than glitter.
The suspicious envelopes, filled with a “granular substance”, were addressed to three members of “Super Happy Fun America”, a group whose membership have previously organized and attended events, some of which have turned violent and who have links to far-right figures.
One of the recipients, Mark Sahady, is known as the leader of the Boston chapter of a group called Resist Marxism, an organization described by the Daily Beast as the new organization as a “front for [the] far-right group”.
In 2018, Think Progress reported that Resist Marxism had links with white nationalist groups, and that members had expressed antisemitic sentiments in leaked chats.
The sender or senders of the glitter parcels remains unknown. The envelopes were sent without return addresses, and the contents confirmed as glitter by law enforcement, Sahady told CNN.
Anti-LGBT conservatives such as Newt Gringrich, Senator Mitt Romney Republican of Utah, and Michele Bachmann have found themselves glitter-bombed over the years and is considered a popular form of protest from LGBTQ advocates.
Samson Racioppi, Super Happy Fun America’s interim treasurer, told Talking Points Memo his letter led to a “big scene” after he called 911.
According to TPM, Super Happy Fun America members insist that they’re expressing their “sincerely held belief” that straight people are an “oppressed majority”.
But others critics have criticized the march, which is scheduled for August, as a homophobic event that aims to troll the LGBTQ community.
SHFA’s treasurer Racioppi said he didn’t find out the envelopes contained glitter until he read about it in the news.
“My neighbors are now probably pretty irritated with me,” he said while describing himself and his glittered associates as “victims”.
Racioppi lamented the “violence” they received at the hands of the anonymous glitter-sender.
“I wouldn’t wish this for anyone,” he said.