Five Years After Covid, a Lesbian Bar Finally Relaxed Its Covid Mask Policy, Which Required Wearing a KN-95 Mask at All Times.
The Backlash Is, Get This, Unhinged.

Five years after covid.

Five years after covid.

I just want to make it clear that this is five years after covid.

Five years after covid, and they're still shrieking and shrilling over a bar relaxing a requirement to wear KN-95 masks.

Not banning the masks. Just not requiring them. Now, they're only suggested.

Oh -- and the requirement is only relaxed one night per week. On Saturday.

All other days of the week -- mask up. Covid will kill you.

Five years later, and the left-wing lesbian Karens are having a meltdown.

A Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose.

The August 31 Instagram post from Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, was upbeat, teasing a new DJ lineup and a volunteer meetup. But partway down the rainbow-hued post labeled "UPDATES!" was a sentence that would splinter the queer community in this small Pioneer Valley city and beyond.

"It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional," wrote Last Ditch.

Previously, patrons were required to wear a well-fitted KN-95 mask "or better" at all times.

The new policy was not received with love.

"Just say you're being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with," wrote one commenter.

"people like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience," posted another.

This is almost as spicy as the Intercepted Reddit Messages.

"I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists [sic]," wrote a third.

The thread grew to 442 comments, some supportive, but many furious.

Leftists furious about something they think they're "owed" but aren't getting?!

This. Changes. Everything.

The people running the bar were accused of being ableist -- eugenicist, even -- for relaxing their signature policy in the face of what commenters consider an ongoing pandemic (Greenfield hasn't reported any COVID cases in more than two months).

Two days later, Last Ditch posted an apology. "We are sorry for our passive and dismissive tone of our change to the norms and schedule impacting the most intersectional of us," management wrote on Instagram. "We understand everyone faces different intersections and we are always working to consider all needs fully."

Now, you're not going to believe this, but it turns out that apologizing to an SJW does not appease them, but encourages them to become even more shrill and hateful in demanding further concessions.

Instead of defusing the situation, the apology seemed to make things worse. The bar had erred: it posted an Instagram card without providing alt-text for the visually impaired. This set off a fresh round of accusations of ableism.

"This is not an accessible post," wrote one user. "It indicates the lack of care or interest in Disability intersectionality."

...

Quaint, crunchy Greenfield (population 17,700) isn't a bad place for a COVID-cautious lesbian bar in 2026, all things considered. Rainbow flags deck store windows downtown. On a recent weekend, a community theater was advertising a workshop for masked performers, down the street from a bookstore with a "medical masks required" sign in the window. Men in ponytails and N-95s were ordering hibiscus tea from the coffee shop off the main square.

Greenfield is close, both physically and spiritually, to Northampton, sometimes referred to as "Lesbianville, U.S.A." In the Pioneer Valley, "every bar is a lesbian bar," a friend who lives there told me.

Nevertheless, Last Ditch, which opened last year as a bar for "dykes, transsexuals, gender freaks, workers, and their friends," is struggling.

...

"Our mission is to create systems of care and action and aid," says Jackie Matellian, one of the founders.

When it first opened, Last Ditch did fairly well. Customers fondly remember a raucous opening night with a (clothed) simulation of a lesbian sex act -- masks in place -- on the dance floor.

How dare Sydney Sweeney sexualize women.

But over time, foot traffic to the bar slowed. More and more visitors said they didn't have the cover fee; the bar let them in anyway. The owners fell behind on bills and couldn't pay themselves or the people who worked there. So, after consulting with the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, they came up with a plan to bend one of their rules -- and hopefully attract more customers.

...

One of Last Ditch's most vocal critics, the head of another queer COVID-conscious collective in Western Massachusetts, a performer and artist who goes by Soe Noire, has been posting complaints about Last Ditch for days. Now, Noire joins the meeting on Zoom. He and other critics begin to flood the Zoom chat with irate messages, which are dutifully read aloud to the group.

"He"? Is this a trans "man" by any chance?

"Noire" is the feminine form of "Noir." Does "he" know that?

...

When it comes time for one of the mediators, a licensed therapist, to speak, she takes a conciliatory tone.

"I love that you are here online," she says. But "these platforms alienate us from each other. I'm talking about social media." She asks whether participants can try to remove themselves from "places of righteousness."

"I would love to get to a place where we all know each other's face, where we all know each other's name," she continues.

"It's messed up that the mediator is dismissing those attending virtually. That's not accessibility," someone responds in the chat.<

"A lot of people are calling for an acknowledgment of harm and I'm hearing a WHITE therapist ... center[ing] the feelings of a majority white and white adjacent staff," writes Noire, who is Black.

No shit really?

The owner tried to femsplain that she was losing money and deeply in debt and felt she had to do something to increase patronage -- or matronage -- or else she'd have to close it down.

Showing weakness to an SJW is never a good move.

"I never really wanted to do this," Matellian says, beginning to cry under her mask. "I don't think I'm doing a very good job."

Matellian tells the group her credit score is trashed. For six months, she lived in her truck because she was pouring money into the bar. She is working four different jobs. She is responsible for paying off the $50,000 loan the three took out to launch the business.

The online critics are unmoved. "[Y]ou chose to use your time to spill tears and center your feelings," Noire posts in the chat. "This is incredibly racist and deflecting behavior."
...

Last Ditch's landlord wants $3,900 in back rent by Monday.

Noire spends the hours after the meeting posting furious Instagram stories about Matellian and Last Ditch. Matellian (who uses she/they pronouns) had been shedding "WHITE THEY THEM TEARS," he writes. The bar was not "a safe environment nor interested in revolutionary praxis."

Oh, a business is not primarily a vehicle for revolutionary communist praxis?

Praxis is a bullshit term that just means "practice" -- there is theory, and then there is praxis, putting theory into practice. Stupid uneducated communists use an obscure Latin word that means "practice" to make their stupid ideas sound smart.

Why not just say "practice"? Because that wouldn't sound -- how many quotation marks do I have to use to express my sneering revulsion -- " " " " " " smart " " " " " " like "praxis" does.

Now we delve into the mystery of Noire's many-layered sexual identity, and it's as fake and gay and stupid as you were expecting.

I reach Noire, who identifies as a gender-expansive lesbian and uses he/him pronouns, by Zoom a few days later. I ask whether he has any sympathy for those running Last Ditch, given the profound financial strain they are under. "No," he replies. (Noire asked to be referred to by his stage name because he says he has been stalked and fears for his safety.) "I'm not going to give grace" when someone is "spreading rhetoric that can and will get people hurt," he says, referring to the fact that the bar's account had "liked" a few comments supporting the relaxed rule.

Noire, who lives about 50 minutes south of Greenfield, estimates he has visited the bar seven or eight times. But he won't return unless there is new leadership. "You can't repair a house that's on fire," he says.

"He's" been there eight fucking times and "he" acts like he owns the place.

I remember a comment on Last Ditch's original announcement, after the pile-on had begun: @scream_guy_wazzzuuuuuuup asked, "i'm sorry, all 400 of these crazy people live in GREENFIELD MASSACHUSETTS????"

I ask whether the people behind the angriest posts have genuine connections to the bar -- are they real customers?

Young and Matellian say yes, they know many of the detractors.

"There are people that are close to us and love us who are really disappointed in our decision, and that is completely understandable," says Young, who says her sister is one of the vocal critics online. "Like, it's so understandable why they feel hurt by the way we did it and the fact that we did it."

"They have passion for the space," Matellian adds.

Just one more glimpse of the seething hormonal insanity:

Just after midnight, one patron is left at the bar, a regular who works at the Mexican restaurant next door. She wonders aloud about holding a Lady Gaga themed night, but Mixxy demurs. "Gaga is canceled," she says. "Gaga is Zionist."

The Boston Globe ran a graphic showing some of the unhinged comments:

Here are some of them. Different messages are separated by line breaks.

the lack of masks in spaces literally kills people & stops disabled people from participating in society.

I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists

Like was this deliberately written to be alienating, rude, and ableist??

enjoy contributing to national covid spikes and potentially catching covid on mask optional nights then

just say you don't want to be around queer disabled people and be done with it. 🙏🏼

I love the use of "prayer hands" in a hateful message.

YOU'VE just decided that disabled peoples lives are debatable. And that's fine, it's pretty typical of white leftists.

It feels wildly insensitive and dismissive :(

Being in community requires tolerating discomfort. The cost of not masking for many is lifelong disability via long covid

Oh, she's on disability. You and I are paying for her to sit on her couch and scream hate into the internet every day.

seeing these people whine about masks being a little inconvenient for them is INFURIATING.

how could we consider you "community" if you act in a way that is killing us.

if youre only concerned with protecting yourself at the cost of DEATH for others, you are no better than a fascist.

What is truly being WILD is announcing a change of this magnitude in a cavalier, callous fashion.

if you spread diseases that disable and kill, you do not "love me".

Does COVlD not disable people on Saturday nights? Very confused by the disregard for community care

A venue wouldn't run a "hatred and discrimination night" to ensure that prejudiced people have a night where they feel included. Inclusivity is about setting basic standards for human dignitity.

people like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience.
if this were the AIDS epidemic, youd be on the side of people who were against prophylactics and who believed AIDS patients should be hidden from the public, left to die alone.

shut up, ablism apologist. Gods, I'd bet money you are even more horrible to black queer people if you can't even sit your ability privileged ass down and listen to disabled queers.

As others have shared, my family is also withdrawing financial support due to the decision and its truly heartless presentation to the community. It's not too late to reverse this decision and apologize

If u wanna pander to capitalism and white supremacy go right ahead, you wouldn't be the first white and white adjacent people in history to do so.

How performative and grotesque.

Classic white and white aligned people and their "nice" culture it's so backhanded!!!
spreading deadly and disabling disease IS violent and YOU should educate YOURself.

just bc the vast majority of humans in this society don't care about killing or disabling others, that doesn't make it okay

Not having a mask requirement on Saturdays IS going to spread disease, it IS going to cause re infection, and trans and black folks (who are high risk to long Covid and complications) CAN and WILL die from this.

What a complete joke. Of course you and LD think it's "silly" because black and disabled peoples collective health are disposable to yall.

I'm seeing a lot of "deserving" talk here. A lot of entitlement.

The "with love" also lands really hollow since it's followed by a "but we decided to not care about protecting you on Saturdays". Shameful misalignment of values to praxis, and disappointing to see.

"anti-profit" bar but they cater to capital within a year lol

some people cannot afford to get sick. These people deserve to have a space that is safe for them to socialize because they cannot go anywhere else.

i am hurt and upset by your glib and flippant attitude around it ESPECIALLY given your entire mission and foundation was based on creating a masked space for the immunocompromised community

Just say you're being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with

i will continue to navigate feeling excluded by a large portion of the wmass queer community as i have been for many years now

disabled folks don't have other spaces we can frequent, largely because of people like you who've accepted the culture of ableism and don't want to mask to keep their communities safe.

Everyone is at risk of Long COVID. Everyone can and will experience multiply disabling impacts from repeat infections

masking isn't just for disabled folks. everyone is at risk. masking is community care. this establishment, apparently, is not

what a massive bummer.

Yikes on bikes.

Yikes on bikes indeed.

Communists, mentally-ill dregs, and bitter entitled invalids on disability are not the kind of customer base that results in a prosperous business.

Meanwhile: Why are people turning on the "queer community"? I can't figure it out.

Usually ugly bullies and nasty mentally-ill people are so popular and beloved!

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:50 PM

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