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‘Straight Pride’ parade organizer pulls out of Salisbury housing board
Officials were set to vote on whether Samson Racioppi would serve another term as a member of the Salisbury Housing Authority, but he withdrew his name from consideration beforehand.
Samson Racioppi, a right-wing organizer who played a key role in setting up the 2019 “Straight Pride” parade in Boston and coordinated bus travel to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 6, 2021, gathering that turned into a deadly riot, withdrew his request for reappointment to the Salisbury Housing Authority.
Racioppi’s five-year appointment as commissioner to the board, which manages the town’s affordable housing, had expired. He was one of two candidates being considered by the Salisbury Board of Selectmen for the position. They were expected to vote on Racioppi’s reappointment during a meeting Monday.
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But before the meeting, Racioppi announced that he had pulled his name from consideration. In a letter posted to Facebook, he explained what led to the decision.
“Unbeknownst to me until very recently, in the past couple of weeks a very small but vocal minority of individuals have politicized my reappointment for their own personal reasons,” he wrote. “They have resorted to name calling, lies, and defamation to bully the town Selectmen into choosing not to reappoint me despite the lack of credible accusations, supporting evidence, or a record of incompetence regarding my duties.”
One of the residents opposed to Racioppi’s reappointment, Monique Greilich, told The Boston Globe that him serving on a town board was “embarrassing and shameful,” and that “he is not a decent person.” Greilich also told the paper that she was organizing others to attend the meeting and push town officials away from reappointing Racioppi.
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Racioppi helped lead Super Happy Fun America, a protest group that garnered national headlines for their “Straight Pride” parade. That event was eventually countered by a sizable counter-protest. The group chartered buses to Washington, D.C., in January 2021 to support Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, The Washington Post reported. Racioppi was part of a crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 but did not join the ranks of angry Trump supporters that eventually stormed the building.
Last year, Racioppi ran against CJ Fitzwater in the Republican primary for the 1st Essex District state House seat. The race was seen as a litmus test for GOP candidates in Massachusetts. Racioppi ended up receiving about 5 percent of the vote in his loss to Fitzwater. Democrat Dawne Shand went on to defeat Fitzwater in November.
In his letter, Racioppi said that he joined the Housing Authority in 2018 after hearing a “horror story” from a senior resident and being moved to help. He said the board has been more successful in recent years, and touted the fact that it did not impose “draconian regulations or mandates” on residents during the height of the pandemic.
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Racioppi said he still views himself as far more qualified for the position than any other candidate, but ultimately concluded that it was in the best interest of everyone involved for him to move on.
“As much as I want to defend against the lies of these individuals and hold the Selectmen to a vote on this matter, I believe this type of discourse is destructive to everyone involved,” he wrote.
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