Straight Pride Organizer Is Against Civil Rights Protections
Introduction
A “Straight Pride” Parade is scheduled for August 31 in Boston. An organizer of the event says he and his organization just want to celebrate heterosexuality. But his stance against federal civil rights protections and his and his group’s history of violence paint quite a different picture.
Mark Sahady is Vice President of the group hosting the parade. He is also the organizer of the Boston chapter of the group Resist Marxism. Resist Marxism describes themselves on their Website as a “patriotic organization dedicated to American nationalism.” The group was created by Kyle Chapman a week after the 2017 Unite the Right riot in Charlottesville, VA where Heather Heyer was murdered by a white nationalist. Chapman also founded and lead the now defunct Fraternal Order of the Alt Knights, an overtly militant offshoot of the Proud Boys, a Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate group.
Resist Marxism members have hosted numerous events in the past couple of years, some of which have resulted in unprovoked violence against protesters and journalists. The event that inaugurated the founding of the group was one of its most controversial. On Boston Common a week after Unite the Right, a couple dozen people including Kyle Chapman gathered for a ‘free speech’ rally. Boston Police estimated the counter-protest had 45,000 people.
Many counter-protestors at Resist Marxism events I’ve spoken to say they believe Sahady, Resist Marxism, and the people and groups they associate with are hateful, bigoted, and fascist.
But whether they are actual fascists or not does not matter. Whether their goals are genuinely peacefully is also immaterial. What matters is what their events bring and what the growth of their worldviews would mean for the communities impacted.
I have covered at least half a dozen events associated with Resist Marxism in the past two years. These are my experiences and impressions that bear upon the so called “Straight Pride” parade.
Anti Civil Rights Protections
The purpose of the group putting on the parade, as stated in their Website, is,
”[to advocate] on behalf of the straight community to build respect, inclusivity, equality, diversity, unity, solidarity, dignity, social mobility, empowerment, sustainability, justice, awareness, intersectionality, human rights, education, access, participation, dialogue, visibility, tolerance, and alliances with people from all walks of life.”
Sahady told me he doesn’t believe in civil rights protections for categories like race, sex, religion, etc. He told me that when we spoke at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston on June 2, 2018 . His group was having an after party following a pro second amendment rally they had hosted that day in front of the Massachusetts State House.
I asked him if he thinks a trans woman should have a legal right to use the women’s room at a restaurant. He said, “Well, I believe that’s a private property matter,” implying that he did not think it should be law. I then pressed the point by asking if a restaurant owner could then force all black people to sit in a specific area. He said, “Well, maybe not that. They’ve (black people) had it pretty bad for a while.”
He told me he doesn’t believe in transgenderism. He said that “there’s only two genders.” Others in his group are much more pointed and say that bieng transgender is a “mental illness.” Such views are ignorant, hateful, and dehumanizing. Such views do not build respect or support any other of the ideas listed in their mission statement.
Patrick Souter, a member of Resist Marxism and the group organizing the parade, once exploded in anger at me. During the Boston Women’s March in January of this year, I had heard him, in a conversation next to me, make the mental illness claim. I interjected with a smile, “Oh, how nice to be insulted right to my face.” He erupted, belting out, “No one’s making you stand there. If you don’t like it you can get the fuck out.”
Civil rights protections are a fundamental part of the America Social contract. The United States did not start as an egalitarian endeavor, but it sure used the words of one. As it has grown in population and diversity, so has the need for those words to ring true for each and every person sharing in this community. That means making clear what we mean by, “All men are created equal.” That means federally protected civil rights. Sahady’s worldview on civil rights would not only stop the progress of decades of civil rights and social gain, but enable and hasten their destruction.
Claiming Victimhood
John Hugo, the group’s President, is quoted on the group’s Website claiming that, “Straight people are an oppressed majority.” Oppression of heterosexuals isn’t really a thing according to a report by ProPublica who,
“reviewed dozens of reports [marked as anti heterosexual by police], and found few, if any, actual hate crimes targeting people for being heterosexual.”
Sahady spoke with me again on June 15, 2019 at the Flag Day Second Amendment Rally in Auburn, MA – an annual rally hosted for the last six years by a group of the same name. The rally hosted controversial right wing speakers such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was found guilty of contempt of federal court for continuing to perpetrate crimes against immigrants. He opened outdoor prison facilities in the Arizona heat and proudly named them “Concentration camps.”
The main organizers are husband and wife and openly express transphobic views. The husband was polite to me. The wife made me feel unsafe. At one point late in the day, I’d had enough and decide to leave after she asked various questions in a contemptuous voice. “Do you have a firearms ID card?” and “What’s your real name?” The first question came across as paranoia, as she was questioning why I was at the event. But, the last question was just raging transphobia.
Sahady was at the Flag Day rally promoting the straight pride event. While I was talking with Sahady, one of his friends interjected transphobic jabs at me with the tone of a bitter and sarcastic 15 year old. Sahady held a clipboard with a name or two scribbled on it.
I asked him about heterosexual oppression. I asked why doesn’t he just participate in the Boston Pride March. He said he tried to enter a float on behalf of Resist Marxism, but they were denied. He presented this as an example of political oppression.
Sahady confirmed his stance against federal civil rights protections, and added that such protections are unnecessary anyway. He said that equality has been achieved; that we don’t need protections for people based on sexual orientation anymore.
“Just look at all the Pride flags on store fronts in downtown Boston,” he said.
The LGBT community has certainly not achieved equality. Bathroom bills singed into law vilify transgender people. The LGBT community suffers mass murder like at the Pulse Night Club. Trans women of color are disproportionately targeted for murder. The LGBT community at large suffers from housing, loan and employment discrimination. People of color are incarcerated at much higher rates than white people. Equality for marginalized people is a long, long way away, and it’s offensive, tone-deaf, or worse to say otherwise.
Sahady claims, “The identity politics of the left is out of control.” No. It is not. If people weren’t discriminated against, then there wouldn’t be any need for identity politics.
Sahady says (LGBT) Pride Marches are just parades. “If they were political protests, then I would understand [their existence.]” They are marches. They are protests. Research “Stonewall uprising.” To not know that is to be historically ignorant, or tone-deaf, or worse. Sahady sees victimhood where none exists. The notion is an insult.
It’s ironic for Sahady to claim that pride marches are no longer needed; that LGBT people have achieved equality at an event where a transgender woman was being actively oppressed.
Associations with Violence and Violent Groups
Resist Marxism says on their website that they exist
“in response to attempts by local governments and militant Marxist, anarchist, and communist styled organizations to suppress the 1st amendment rights of patriotic Americans.”
Boston Free Speech was formed before Resist Marxism but some of its members would go on to join the latter group. Boston Free Speech, from its earliest stages, included speakers like repeat violent felon Kyle Chapman that have engaged in serious violence. Resist Marxism invited speakers to their rallies who are associated with white nationalism such as Augustus Sol Invictus. They also enlisted private security forces staffed by such groups as Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys, Fraternal Order of the Alt Knights, and American Guard. Some of the members of Resist Marxism have since gone on to join groups like the white nationalist group Patriot Front, which in a previous incarnation attended the Unite the Right Rally as Vanguard America.
The Drunk March
I agreed to attend the after party for the June 2nd, 2018 rally because I wanted to confront Sahady about a member of his group who assaulted me.
The incident occurred following the after party for another Resist Marxism rally on November 18, 2017.
The group held the after party for the November 18, 2017 rally at the Bell In Hand Tavern in downtown Boston. At the end of the after party, the group decide to march through Downtown Boston. They wanted to stalk, confront, and possibly brawl with “antifa.” They visited three locations: some establishment near Park Street T Station (subway), Emerson College, and the meeting place of the International Socialist Organization.
I live streamed the entire event on Periscope. Because of what transpired in the first few moments of the march, I have muted the stream for my safety. I’ve muted all of my streams, actually. The incident changed how I do journalism permanently. Topic for another day.
Present at the march were, in addition to others, Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson and Tiny Toese, Proud Boys Kyle Chapman, Kenny Lizardo, Vinnie Molino, and Jovi Val, Boston Free Speech’s John Medlar and Chris Bartley and Chris Hood who would later join Patriot Front, which hadn’t formed yet.
At the beginning of the march, Chapman, while on camera with sound, spoke to his peers about me. He warned them to not do anything they didn’t want shown in a video made public.
“She’s not a bad person. She’s not a bad person. Don’t say anything stupid, because it’ll make it into the fucking video,” Chapman said.
While he spoke he was leaning out of the frame. I thought he just didn’t want to be in the frame.
What I didn’t realize was that he was maneuvering around behind me. He then put his hand into the collar of my three layers of winter clothing and began twiddling the back of my neck while speaking directly to me, “Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right?.” Four times he said that, touching my neck in that way the whole time.
I reflexively froze, as in fight, flight, or freeze. I watched Matthias Thorpe, a member of Resist Marxism, center frame right in front of me laugh, then have a double take, then a triple take. He seemed to express a realization that the conduct was becoming socially uncomfortable.
Finally, I whirled round saying, “I don’t think you should touch me.” Chapman made no denials and continued to praise me. His peers laughed. One person made a tone-deaf gaslighting comment, “Aww, we’ll buy you a beer.” Another, Vincenzo Molino, a Proud Boy, said to Chapman, “Don’t assume gender! Don’t assume gender!” a transphobic slur.
I was by myself among a gang of about twenty right-wingers and possible white supremacists who claimed I had their trust and respect. It was bullshit. Yes, I was somewhat naive about their trust. They made clear their malignant narcissism, lust for cruelty, and their profound lack of integrity.
It was violence. It was intimidation. And, it was meant to suppress my free speech.
Ties To Unite The Right 2 And Jason Kessler
Rickey Entwistle traveled from New Orleans to speak at the June 2nd, 2018 Resist Marxism rally.
Chat leaks by Unicorn Riot showed that someone using the name Rickey Entwistle was in a Discord channel at the time of the after party for the same rally. He was engaged in a discussion with Jason Kessler, lead organizer of the Unite the Right rally.
The chat log shows Entwistle saying things that indicate he was the same person that spoke at the rally that day, and that the discussion occurred during the after party at the Green Dragon Tavern. They were discussing plans for the Unite the Right 2 rally planned for Charlottesville and Washington, DC later that summer on the anniversary of the first Unite the Right rally.
JK: @Rickey Entwistle Can you try to figure out what speakers they used for the Boston Rally today?RE: I’m one.. I’ll get the rest
JK: No, the sound equipment
RE: Oh sorry.. yeah I’ll ask.
RE: Antifa just found out where we are
Now antifa is posting where we are
Surveillance footage shared by The Green Dragon Tavern and published by WBZ Boston shows someone who appears to be Entwistle – a heavy set, balding man wearing a light blue, button down shirt – sitting at a table with the group during the after party.
So sitting with Resist Marxism, while I question Sahady about and he denies his ties to fascism, is a man assisting in the organization of a rally for fascists. The main organizer of that rally organized the largest most violent neo-nazi, white supremacist, white power rally in a very, very long time, Unite the Right.
Providence, RI
Resist Marxism held a rally in Providence, Rhode Island on October 6, 2018. The city and the state provided hundreds of officers, some in full riot gear, to do security. The police set up a cordon of barricades and officers and check points that made getting any closer than hundreds of feet from the rally essentially impossible.
Even with that kind of protection, Resist Marxism still decided to bring their own security force and deploy it outside the police perimeter. The force included Patriot Prayer, Proudboys, and American Guard. Some members of these groups have committed violent acts such as assault and intimidation. There is no reason to have done this unless it was the first step in initiating violence. The Huffington Post leaked chat logs showing that members of Resist Marxism’s security were planning violence ahead of time. I witnessed first hand and recorded that they initiated the violence that day.
Tiny Toese triggered a very violent brawl. He just snapped and started swinging. I filmed him in the minutes preceding the melee. Protesters can be seen on video raising their fists in defense without advancing while Resist Marxism’s security people step forward to engage. One person reported to me, though I did not verify, that he knew of “broken bones” and at least one “concussion” on the counter-protesters’ side. Two security members, both Proud Boys, reported injuries: Alan Swinney reported a broken rib, and John Medlar reported a broken nose and mild concussion. The police reported no injuries.
Tiny is on film bragging about assaulting a woman.
Boston Women’s March
At the Boston Women’s March I witnessed first hand Sahady pushing protesters out of his way as he and his group and their security were attempting to crash the march.
The protesters’ intervention was working, and Sahady clearly looked frustrated. His usually stone-eyed smile turned into furrow browed anger. When counter-protesters wouldn’t get out of his way, he just started pushing and shoving them – something I had not seen him do before.
Fascist?
In our discussion at the Green Dragon, I confronted Sahady about his critics’ accusations that he and his group are fascists. He said derisively, while laughing, “It’s stupid.” I reminded him of the Drunk March. He said, “Well, that was a bit juvenile. But, it was only one place [we visited.]” I said, “What? No. It was three.” He admitted it was true, but shrugged it off.
I pushed back and asked him if he couldn’t understand how a community could see such behavior as truly frightening. His response was, “Antifa is outside right now!” I was not able to confirm that assertion. I accused him of dodging the question and redirected him back to it. I don’t remember how the conversation ended, but he never answered.
Wanting Opposition
Lastly, critics of Sahady and Resist Marxism have long accused him and his group of mostly wanting attention by creating specticle. Sahady has always claimed he and his group just want “free speech.”
When 200 protesters swarmed, and dwarfed the tiny rally on 6/2/2018 Sahady’s face was beaming. I ran up to him right at that moment and asked, almost yelling to cut through the volume of the protesters’ chants, “Is this what you wanted?” By that I meant tons of yelling protesters. He responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes!” If it’s about desiring free speech, why care so much for protesters to show up?
Fascism
Perhaps Sahady really does see himself as simply an everyday libertarian fighting for his rights. Whether that is true or not doesn’t really matter when measured with a straight forward framing of fascism.
Historian Robert O. Paxton, didn’t like defining fascism so rigidly as a list of check boxes. He preferred viewing fascism as a process that moved through stages. Pressed for a definition, Paxton offered the following.
“Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”
To me, a lot of what I’ve recounted here seems congruent with a substantial portion of that definition:
The terroristic street violence and intimidation with impunity
The desire for state sanctioned policies of exclusion
Their belief in their victimhood
Their reactionary transphobia driven by a sense that their traditional values are degrading
Though I haven’t mentioned it, it almost goes without saying that they are strong supporters of our current strong man president and his heavy-handed rhetoric on topics like immigration.
Conclusion
Given all this, I don’t really care if Sahady is telling the truth, or if he is a fascist, or if his groups and associations are all fascist. What matters is that they attract and bring violent people into our neighborhoods. They initiate assaults against non-violent counter protesters and the media. They advocate stripping away civil rights protections for marginalized communities. They waste the public’s resources as they cope with the logistical pressures placed by these events. From all that, I see that these groups are a threat to civil rights, to free speech, to community safety – they are a threat to the quality of life of marginalized groups and the community as a whole.
