A Lesbian Bar is Facing a Boycott and Charges of Trying to 'Kill Disabled People' for Lifting its Covid Mask Mandate One Night a Week. This is Not a Headline From 2020

Carles Navarro Parcerisas. Getty Images.

If ever there was a time in my life I will never look back at with fondness, it's 2020. A virus that was fatal to a tiny percentage of already immunocompromised set off a worldwide tsunami of overreaction. Panic porn was everywhere. An entire civilization was essentially put under house arrest. Small family-owned businesses were shut down, while giant retailers were allowed to stay open. In the name of health and safety, we canceled doctor's appointments, sports leagues and church services, closed schools, playgrounds, beaches, golf courses and gyms, but it was business-as usual at fast food places and liquor stores. "Sure," the government told us, "You can grab a Wendy's Baconator, a fifth of vodka, a pack of smokes and some scratchies. But stay off that treadmill and no praying, lardass. It's for your own good." What followed was economic collapse, a mental health crisis, the elderly dying alone, cities on fire, and Cam Newton at QB for the Patriots. 

It's a time best forgotten by everyone. Besides Buccaneers fans, I can't imagine anyone ever longing for that horrific time in our history. 

But then, what do I know? Not much, apparently. For sure I'm not familiar with Massachusetts' Lesbian Bar Culture. The only time I ever set foot in one was at a remote we did when I was at WEEI. (Which was a terrible idea given that the one demographic sports radio advertisers don't care about is the female population. And at this particular bar, the ratio was ~100 women for every woman.) And it seems that at one such place, the clientele is still waxing nostalgic for one aspect of Covid Life.

Introducing the Last Ditch Bar in Greenfield, MA. Who, when they're not hosting a Dolly Parton Tribute Night, The Pioneer Valley Bad Poetry Recitation Contest and QTease: A New England Queer Strip Night and Dance Party, has been proudly keeping the Covd-era Mask Mandates alive. Until now:

And the backlash over the change has been, to put it mildly, intense:

NY Post - Trouble is a brewin’ at this watering hole. 

A Massachusetts lesbian bar descended into a catty culture war and faces a potentially business-ending boycott from sudden enemies who flipped out when the owners lifted a longstanding mask mandate — for just one night a week.

Greenfield’s Last Ditch Bar scrapped Saturday mask requirements on Aug. 31 in a bid to boost business —  but the move completely backfired, sparking uproar from members of the small city’s queer community.

Some critics dramatically likened the decision to a “mass disabling event,” a “eugenicist” attack and a host of other hot-button terms that escalated to threats of violence.

“I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists [sic],” one commenter wrote on the western Massachusetts bar’s post announcing the change, the Boston Globe reported. 

“People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” wrote another, while a third said, “Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with.”

And that was all because masks were made “optional” just once a week.

Last Ditch, which opened in 2025, still requires masks all other days, even as Greenfield hasn’t reported a COVID case in months. …

The bar’s three owners — one a drag performer using it/its pronouns, another now in clown school — began to slip behind on their bills and couldn’t pay themselves or even their staff.

So the trio decided to lift the mask mandate on Saturdays to try to boost revenue and keep the lights on, the Globe reported.

People, please. Believe me, I know better than to ever tell a woman she needs to calm down. But just because we have a certain fondness for ineffective, useless masks and think everyone should be forced to, doesn't mean we can't conduct ourselves like ladies. Do you have any idea how expensive drag queen makeup gets? And how hard it can be to carry around the student loan debt from clown college? Those degrees don't pay for themselves. 

Now that I think of it, perhaps the thing I hated most about 2020 was how all of a sudden, everyone decided they were an epidemiologist. Out of nowhere, the whole world had strong opinions on things they hadn't ever heard of five minutes ago. The efficacy of social distancing. MRNA vaccines. Ivermectin. Hydroxychloroquin. And got super judgmental about everybody else's mask usage. 

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What I never understood was that, if the masks did actually protect you, what did it matter if anyone else wore one or not? If you wear a condom to keep from getting the clap, what's it to you if the guy in the next apartment is riding bareback? Furthermore, what good is wearing the mask if you're taking it off every minute for a sip of beer and to down another Buffalo wing? Or why you had to wear one to walk through the restaurant, but you were fine once you got to your table. It was all an exercise in futility. And the nanosecond you didn't have to, there's not a sane person among us who didn't immediately give up the stupid masquerade. 

But clearly I'm wrong. The mask maintains a loyal following. At least among the patrons of this fine ladie's establishment in Greenfield. I just hope cooler heads prevail. And the customers who love nothing better than going around masked up can continue to do so, now and forever.