by Kerul Dyer

If you’ve been to the Saturday Market downtown Ashland, you’ve likely been met with loud verbal harassment assertions of moral superiority regarding women’s healthcare and the rights for LBGTQIIA+ people. The group Rogue Valley Salt Shakers show up with regularity and consistency, parading signs and banners espousing their beliefs. According to their message, people who receive abortions should be sentenced to death; and people who identify outside of the male/female binary are representatives of Satan. 

I wish I were exaggerating. The above mentioned are comments I have either personally heard or found in the group’s many social media posts and rants. They really have it out for the rest of us.

At issue is not how the individuals feel, but how they express their mandate that all of those who receive modern women’s healthcare, that includes the right to an abortion and other reproductive rights, are deemed morally reprehensible. The origins of the group, their founders, and the response continue to gain momentum in the current wave of rights-denying legal precedents like the reversal of Roe v Wade. 

Salt Shaker founder Jon Clemente and Ryan Clark of Grants Pass were arrested in 2020 for illegally shooting at wild birds near a pedestrian bridge in a public park. The two walked away from the incident only to become zealots in a cause to cleanse the region of immorality, however inconsistent with their own documented behaviors. 

The two have recruited other members and remain leaders of a far right, fundamentalist Christian organization that targets sporting events, protests, and public markets where they confront people who they deem immoral in their actions and appearances.

Their group has been known to display signs and images that are disturbing to children and incite violence through the brandishing of weapons, consistent provocation of people and groups, and guilt-shaming of those with nonbinary gender presentation.

I, myself, have been targeted by a member of the group, who grabbed onto the window frame of my car and screamed point blank into my ear that I needed to “go home to my husband and submit.” I was just waiting for people to walk through a crosswalk in downtown Ashland. I was dumbfounded, since I had not said anything or expressed any belief. I was trying to get through downtown on a busy Saturday during summer. 

While the founder of the group was convicted of discharging a firearm near pedestrians in Grants Pass City limits, others in the group have harassed and threatened people. One woman who attended a pro-choice rally (who requested to remain anonymous) was followed to her car by members of the group and frightened as they took photographs of her, her car, and her license plate. The woman continues to feel afraid that there will be a violent consequence for her expression of her rights in our rural SW Oregon region. 

Some young people have decided that enough is enough. They created something called the Pepper Shakers, and they are amazing. They have organized a nonviolent brigade that provides a buffer to the hate speech and verbal assaults at Pride and other LGBTQIIA+ events, at Women’s Rights marches, and at healthcare facilities in Southern Oregon. The Pepper Shakers offer a creative solution to indemnify centuries of oppression against women and people who identify as trans, queer, lesbian, gay and other affiliations with positive affirmations. 

At Peace House, we present an alternative to violent interactions by providing resources for nonviolent solutions to cultural and political conflict. We believe that the Pepper Shakers are a great example of a group of ordinary people showing extraordinary courage in standing up against hate. We stand for an inclusive culture of love and understanding. This stands true in a wide range of issues, including the pursuit of gender expression, sexual identity, and essential reproductive healthcare.