How Shop Local Raleigh has responded to director’s remarks on transgender people
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Board President outlined corrective actions after director's transgender-erasure comment
- Executive director Jennifer Martin is in training on “human rights issues.”
- Some vendors left Shop Local Raleigh and critics sought stronger action against Martin.
In a video posted to social media Thursday, Shop Local Raleigh’s new board president outlined steps the nonprofit has taken since its executive director made a comment that critics slammed for transgender erasure.
Executive director Jennifer Martin drew demands for her to resign in December after anonymously responding to a Wake County parent in a Facebook group looking for sports their transgender child could play, The News & Observer previously reported.
“There’s no such thing as a transgender son,” the commenter, later identified as Martin, wrote. “Blessing to you, but the sooner you help your son realize this, the more successful he (maybe a she) will be.”
Martin apologized for her remarks in a January Facebook post, but several businesses, including Chester & Pearl and Be Like Missy, announced in the aftermath they would no longer participate in Shop Local Raleigh events. A Dec. 24 Change.org petition started by Durham jewelry maker Bethany Duffrin called for Shop Local Raleigh to take “immediate and decisive action” against Martin.
In the video statement posted to Shop Local Raleigh’s Instagram, Paul Laughter, the board president of Shop Local Raleigh and the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association, said Martin’s comments did not reflect the views of Shop Local Raleigh.
Rather than oust Martin, Laughter said, the board “determined that corrective action, structured accountability and measurable steps toward growth were the appropriate action.”
Shop Local Raleigh took the following steps, Laughter said:
- Martin is doing professional development training, including “specifically focused on human rights issues.”
- Martin and board members are going to ongoing meetings with community members, leaders, businesses and organizations “to listen and to learn.”
- Shop Local Raleigh is reviewing its policies on leadership, conduct and representation “to ensure clear standards moving forward and to ensure actions match words.”
“We chose a path that prioritizes responsibility and change,” Laughter said. “You may not agree with that decision, and that’s OK.”
Laughter also offered a direct apology to the mother whose post Martin had responded to.
“You reached out for help, and the response you received hurt,” Laughter said. “Regardless of intent, it added pain where there should’ve been compassion. For that, I apologize.”
Shop Local Raleigh, founded in 2009, promotes more than 900 of its member businesses and leads the Raleigh Christmas Parade and Brewgaloo, an annual craft beer festival.
Community response
Laughter’s statement on behalf of Shop Local Raleigh came a week after the LGBT Center of Raleigh wrote in a statement that until Shop Local Raleigh “takes accountability for its Executive Director’s actions, we have decided not to engage in conversation with them directly.”
Martin had reached out to the LGBT Center to discuss her actions in a meeting, but Shop Local Raleigh had not “engaged in making amends” outside of setting up meetings with the center and other organizations, the LGBT Center wrote. The center’s statement listed four steps Shop Local Raleigh could take, including:
- Adopting and making public anti-harassment policies that explicitly name transgender and non-binary people and have “clear compliance and enforcement processes”
- Make a “clearly-worded statement that acknowledges the harm” caused and specifically names transphobia
- Develop a mandatory competency for “interacting with the LGBTQ+ community in partnership with trans-led or trans centered organizations”
- Consider creating a fund aimed at improving the lives of LGBTQ+ people in North Carolina
Erica Vogel, owner of the Zebulon jeweler Be Like Missy, on whose Facebook page Martin’s anonymous comment appeared, said Shop Local Raleigh’s most recent statement doesn’t address or adopt the LGBT Center’s recommendations. For Vogel, it’s “hard to tell” whether meaningful change will come.
“The video that [Laughter] recorded feels like lip service just to quiet us while they ramp up to Brewgaloo,” Vogel said. Brewgaloo will take place April 24-25.
Vogel, who canceled her Shop Local Raleigh membership after Martin’s comments, said her preference would be for Martin to resign. But she would also like for Shop Local Raleigh to add an LGBTQ+ board member or someone from Harmony, Raleigh’s LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, as an adviser to the board.
The N&O reached out to Shop Local Raleigh and asked to speak with Martin, who was not available Friday afternoon. A Shop Local Raleigh representative passed a reporter’s contact information onto Martin.
The owner of The Night Market, Sara Buxton, wrote in a email to The N&O that Shop Local Raleigh’s recent statement was “a very small step” but was far from addressing the full harm to the LGBTQ+ community. The Night Market announced in December that it would not renew their Shop Local Raleigh membership after Martin’s comments.
“Talking about what’s being done is one thing, but it will take actions to speak over the words that have been used to erase a community that is already so vulnerable,” Buxton wrote.
“As they roll out announcements for Brewgaloo, there is now meager acknowledgment for the transgender and queer community which is not enough to validate the hurt that has been caused.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 3:21 PM.
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