01/16/2026
Let’s stop pretending.
An organization cannot claim to “represent all” local businesses while employing an Executive Director who believes transgender people do not exist.
That is not inclusion. That is erasure.
Recently, the Executive Director of Shop Local Raleigh publicly expressed, anonymously, that transgender people do not exist. In response, the organization released a sanitized, hollow statement that reads like it was written by bad AI and then posted feel good messaging about “diversity” while disabling comments.
You do not get to silence the community and still claim moral authority.
You cannot represent people you believe don’t exist.
You cannot claim integrity while hiding behind anonymity.
You cannot preach unity while practicing exclusion.
Shop Local Raleigh does not represent all businesses as long as it keeps leadership that denies the existence of transgender people.
I want to be clear about something else.
I have intentionally stayed out of comment firestorms. I have chosen respect. I have chosen restraint. I have not piled on. I have not attacked publicly.
But this must stop.
This is not about differing opinions. This is about whether an organization that holds influence, money, and access believes an entire group of people is real and worthy of dignity.
Boards exist to lead, not to protect harm. The responsibility here does not stop with one person. The Board of Directors of Shop Local Raleigh has chosen to keep this leadership in place. That choice speaks volumes.
Jennifer Martin, thank you for your service. But it is time for your bigotry and you to be gone.
We have canceled our membership and will not support organizations that lie, manipulate language, and erase members of our community while asking for our money and trust.
To other business owners, decide who you stand with.
Not in private messages. Not in whispered agreement.
In public. With integrity.
If you believe transgender people exist and deserve respect, act like it.
Signed,
Rusty Sutton
Owner, MonkeyFans Raleigh, LLC
Founder of MonkeyFans Raleigh, MonkeyFans Creative, and Designed by Rusty
That’s who we are.
