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The first mask-free Saturday since a Massachusetts lesbian bar went viral for descending into a catty culture war was nearly canceled after its last remaining owner claimed the venue was being “infiltrated.”
Greenfield’s Last Ditch Bar caused an uproar when it broke the news last month to its “immunocompromised disabled divas” it was lifting its mandatory mask policy for just one night a week in a bid to boost business — six full years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than one dozen patrons gathered at the door shortly after 7 p.m. for a “goth night” with underground DJs “Hannibal Directive” and “Puppy Synthesis” were turned away and told to come back at 10 p.m. because staff was holding a last-minute emergency meeting. Most hadn’t gotten the memo about theme.
When they did, the by now nearly 100 people rushing to get in were promptly informed by the financially struggling establishment that because of unspecified “safety breaches,” the mask-free dance night they’d been eagerly anticipating for the past three hours was now a private event — and that if they couldn’t name someone they knew inside, they were being 86’d.
Patrons also had to hand over their ID to staff as a supposed “security measure,” and could only pick it up on the way out.
Despite the outcry about the decision to go mask-free one night a week by those who called it a “mass disabling event” and a “eugenicist” attack, on Saturday fewer than a dozen patrons were masked.
“It just feels off-putting,” said Pete, 43, who lives in nearby Northampton, the city that’s been labeled “Lesbianville, USA,” of wearing a mask.
A woman, who goes by “they/them” pronoun, came “for the vibe” regardless, but was “happy that I didn’t have to wear a mask,” calling the controversy “ridiculous.”
The crowd danced to techno pop music on the black and white checkered dance floor that had a stripper pole in the middle, as anime cartoons played on a projector screen and neon lights flashed.
The basement bar, which features a fluorescent lavender sign with the words “Last Ditch” outside and a sign on the door that says, “please wear a mask, it’s like a seatbelt for your face,” has countless reminders of the pandemic era most people are trying to forget inside.
Pamphlets on “How to Take a Rapid Antigen Test” hang on a blue wall next to titles like “What is Queer Liberation?” and “A Worker’s Rights Guide,” N-95 masks are on offer in their free “store,” and owners boast about their “excess air purifiers” and “large exhaust fans.”
Regular nights — like the monthly “masked social” with speed dating — even have a virtual option.
The bar, which opened last year as a place for “dykes, transsexuals, gender freaks, workers, and their friends,” required mandatory N-95 masks — “or better” — at all times.
When the change was announced last month, all hell broke loose with its woke clientele in the small city’s queer community.
“Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with,” on social media user wrote to the announcement.
“People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” lambasted another.
Last Ditch Bar was started by three housemates in their mid-20s, two of whom have since bailed — including one who ditched to go to clown school.
The last remaining owner, Jackie Matellian, cried through her mask during a meeting two months ago to apologize for the masking decision and talk about the bar’s financial future.
She explained she’d been left responsible for the $50,000 business loan taken out with her friends and had now been living in a car for six months.
“It was not my passion project,” Matellian, 26, confessed. “I never really wanted to do this…. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job.”
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