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.
asserted
owners → descend → night
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.
asserted
move → scrap → 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.
asserted
that → liken → 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.
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Globe → hope → change
“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.
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you → kill → it
And that was all because masks were made “optional” just once a week.
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masks → make → ?
Last Ditch, which opened in 2025, still requires masks all other days even as Greenfield hasn’t reported a COVID case in months.
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Greenfield → open → months
The business soon found its divey barroom bare on what used to be busy nights, as irate customers banded together to boycott.
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customers → find → ?
Sales had already been slumping due to the bar’s floundering business model that includes rules like, “Nobody will be barred from entry due to lack of funds,” and “Poor and unhoused people are welcome in the space.”
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people → slump → space
The mask mandate was another rule, as Last Ditch vowed ableism — infringements on disabled patrons enjoying the venue — was strictly barred.
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ableism → vow → venue
That meant the face coverings were required to protect anyone who was immunocompromised.
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who → mean → anyone
It remains unclear how anyone was expected to drink while masked.
uncertain
anyone → remain → ?
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.
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owners → use → themselves
So the trio decided to lift the mask mandate on Saturdays to try to boost revenue and keep the lights on, the Globe reported.
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Globe → decide → lights
“It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional,” Last Ditch merrily wrote in the August Instagram post that blew its world apart.
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that → inform → world
Management first tried to apologize for its supposedly flippant post, writing “We are sorry for our passive and dismissive tone of our change to the norms and schedule impacting the most intersectional of us.
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We → try → us
But that only fanned the flames — because Last Ditch’s post failed to include written “alt text” describing the written message for visually impaired people.
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post → fan → people
“This is not an accessible post,” somebody commented.
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somebody → comment → ?
“It indicates the lack of care or interest in Disability intersectionality.”
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It → indicate → intersectionality
Desperate, Last Ditch tried to address the controversy in its monthly community meeting on Sept. 11.
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Ditch → try → Sept.
But the event was immediately hijacked by the outraged masses who joined by Zoom and began filling the chat with hysterical comments, each read aloud for the in-person group to hear.
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group → hijack → person
Then things were really set off when one woman attending in-person, a therapist, said she wished everybody could be there so they could talk together.
“
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they → set → person
It’s messed up that the mediator is dismissing those attending virtually.
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mediator → mess → those
That’s not accessibility,” somebody wrote, while others claimed it was “wildly unsafe” to have a licensed therapist who they claimed could use her power to force them into mental hospitals against their will.
uncertain
they → ’ → will
“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,” another offered.
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another → call → staff
When it came time to hear from Last Ditch’s last remaining owner — the other two quit months ago — she broke down in tears saying she’d just been trying to help her friends with their business before ending up in charge.
“It was not my passion project,” Jackie Matellian cried through her mask, explaining she’d been left responsible for the $50,000 business loan taken out with her friends and that she’d been living in a car for six months to stay ahead of bar payments.
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she → come → payments
Matellian also claimed she’d been working four jobs to keep up with the payments.
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she → claim → payments
“I never really wanted this,” she said.
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she → want → this
“I don’t think I’m doing a very good job.”
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I → think → job
“You chose to use your time to spill tears and center your feelings,” one person responded.
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person → choose → feelings
Things have not improved for Last Ditch since that meeting.
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Things → improve → meeting
Metallian has fallen behind on rent, and the bar’s landlord was demanding $3,900 by the end of September.
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landlord → fall → September
And the fateful mask-optional Saturday nights haven’t helped, with the barroom all but empty each weekend despite drink deals and DJs that used to attract dozens of customers.
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that → help → customers
The only person left around midnight on a recent Saturday suggested trying a Lady Gaga-themed party might bring some people in.
uncertain
trying → leave → people
“Gaga is canceled,” the bartender said.
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bartender → cancel → ?
The Aporia
