A controversial sign near a busy road in Salem, Oregon that reads, “Jesus loves strippers. Honk if you agree,” has been taken down.
Members of the Salem Community Vision group complained about the sign, claiming they didn’t take issue with the sign’s message, but rather were upset over its placement on a public right-of-way.
“Jesus loves strippers because Jesus loves all,” Cynthia Shaver, the executive director and founder of the group Pole Gems in Salem, says.
Shaver says she put the sign up to help draw money towards their fundraising effort. The group provides free and low cost services to help out workers in the adult entertainment industry.
“We are a faith-based organization,” Shaver says. “But our mission is not to try to convert people. We offer counseling, we offer all kinds of stuff. We throw baby showers. We fill in where people may not be able to afford like their electric bill.”
“It’s just a mess,” Brian Hines, who sits on the steering committee for the Salem Community Vision, says. “It makes Salem look tacky.”
The group criticized the sign in a Facebook post over the weekend. A city spokesman confirmed the sign was out of compliance, and asked that it be removed.
“I mean one, it’s way bigger than the usual political sign,” Hines says. “It’s smack dab in the right-of-way. It’s obscuring the vision, the sight line to the intersection. It didn’t have to do with the message. We had no idea what Pole Gems was. Personally, I kind of like the idea of ‘Jesus loves strippers’ even though I’m not religious. I mean who doesn’t love strippers?”
The sign was taken down and replaced with sign holders Monday afternoon after a code enforcement officer spoke with the Pole Gems group.
Shaver says the officer told them all of their signs are non-compliant due to size regulations, but the city only took action against that particular sign because of the right-of-way obstruction complaints.
