Massachusetts lesbian bar faces boycott after easing Saturday mask rule

A lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, has been engulfed in an online civil war after its owners eased a longstanding mask mandate for just one night a week, drawing accusations of “ableism” and a boycott that has left the struggling business’ future in doubt.

Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue, which opened last year, had required patrons to wear a well-fitted KN-95 mask “or better” at all times since it launched. On Aug. 31, management announced on Instagram that masks would be optional on Saturdays only, an attempt to boost sagging revenue, according to a Boston Globe investigation into the fallout.

The rainbow-colored post — addressed to the bar’s “immunocompromised disabled divas” — triggered more than 400 comments, many of them furious. Critics likened the policy change to a “mass disabling event” and accused the owners of “eugenicist” behavior; some wished violence on the venue outright. When management apologized two days later, the backlash intensified further because the apology post lacked alt-text for visually impaired readers.

A Sept. 11 community meeting called to resolve the dispute reportedly devolved instead, with Zoom attendees flooding the chat with angry messages and accusing a mediator — a licensed therapist — of racial bias because she is white. One attendee went further, suggesting the therapist’s status as a mandated reporter made her presence “wildly unsafe.”

Jackie Matellian, the only original founder still involved in daily operations after her two co-founders stepped back — one to enroll in clown school — broke down during the meeting describing the toll the business has taken on her. She has fallen behind on rent, with the landlord seeking $3,900 by the following Monday, and says she lived out of her truck for six months while working four jobs to service a $50,000 loan taken out to open the bar.

“I never really wanted this. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job,” Ms. Matellian said, according to the Globe. Her critics were unmoved, with one commenter accusing her of “racist and deflecting behavior” for crying.

The mask-optional policy has not delivered the hoped-for turnout. On the second such Saturday, Sept. 12, the Globe found the dance floor largely empty despite drink specials and a DJ, even as Greenfield has not logged a COVID-19 case in more than two months.

Some online critics have questioned the timing of the objections altogether. “Does COVlD not disable people on Saturday nights?” one skeptic asked, per Fox News’ account of the dispute — a comment that captured the broader confusion over why a single weekly exception provoked such an intense reaction more than three years after the federal COVID-19 public health emergency ended.

Ms. Matellian has said she plans to restructure the bar as a cooperative to reduce her personal financial liability, though she does not expect the masking dispute to resolve soon.