A local bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, has sparked an uproar on social media with its mask policy update. Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue, a lesbian bar, posted on Instagram late last month that it would open up Saturday night as mask-optional, "to try out typical club nights with themes/hosts/DJs/full capacity," The Boston Globe first reported. The post was then flooded with backlash regarding the new policy.
"We’ve decided to show how much we love our immunocompromised divas by sending them to the hospital to make more money," one comment on the post read weeks ago. "Last Ditch, I'm so disappointed in you. -One of the many continuing to mask folks, not just for my sake, but for the sake of EVERYONE. I had been dreaming of coming to the bar as a very rare foray into nightlife, and now.... dream shattered.
Thanks," another post read. According to The Globe, visitors to the bar were asked to wear a KN-95 mask "or better” the entire time, before the new policy tweak. Reaction on social media has seemed pointed not only at the bar's masking rules, but also at the responses the new policy prompted.
"Leftism is a mental disease. If you doubt that, read below," Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz posted Wednesday on X. Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, posted to X on Wednesday, "getting a group together to visit the weird lesbian bar in western mass dm if interested, can’t talk here".
In a follow-up, DeLauro posted, "trip cancelled, no one wanted to mask". Texas State Representative Mitch Little, a Republican, also weighed in, saying, "There are parts of the country that live in a different reality tunnel than us." Newsweek reached out to the bar via email for comment. The policy hits on a widely used COVID-19 era mandate launched in an attempt to protect individuals from the spread of the virus.
It was common to see masks inside grocery stores, airports, sporting events or large gatherings during the pandemic. In their post about accessibility, the business said in part, "Accessibility is a pillar of our mission, AND our mission is also to make the space work for everyone and everything radical, sometimes that's being wild! We strive for solidarity, transparency of risks, and connecting us all in this revolution." In an update this month, the bar apologized to their community members regarding the policy change, saying in part on Instagram, "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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