US2 min(s) read
The future of a Massachusetts lesbian bar has been cast into doubt after its owners lifted a longstanding rule on face masks, having safeguarded customers with mandatory coverings.
For one night a week, the LGBTQ+ bar has announced that it will allow customers to remove face coverings despite a mandate that has prohibited them from doing so since opening its doors in 2025, but 18 months on, and it could well be forced to close.
The Last Ditch bar in Greenfield told customers that it was scrapping its mask-wearing policy in order to promote business, but that decision has ultimately been met with backlash amongst its loyal regulars who have threatened to boycott should the plan go ahead.
What was once a bustling social hotspot has now become a failing business. The bar previously imposed mask regulations on its customers to protect those who are immunocompromised, having initially sold itself as an accessible venue for those who are "marginalized".
Customers have since launched a boycott, likening the decision to a “mass disabling event,” a “eugenicist” attack, as well as one commenter even going as far as to wishing that the “venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists [sic].”
“People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” added another, while a third said: “Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with.”
The financially-driven decision was first confirmed in August, much to the anger of its customers.
“It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional,” Last Ditch had announced in its initial Instagram post. Before adding: “We are welcome in the space.”
While the club’s management launched last-ditch efforts to salvage its reputation by issuing an apology, writing: “We are sorry for our passive and dismissive tone of our change to the norms and schedule impacting the most intersectional of us,” it only provoked customers after the post didn’t include “alt text” which reads the written message for the visually impaired.
“This is not an accessible post,” somebody quipped. “It indicates the lack of care or interest in Disability intersectionality.”
