Massachusetts Lesbian Bar Closes for Meeting as Saturday No-Mask Policy Sparks Backlash
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 27
Massachusetts Lesbian Bar Closes for Meeting as Saturday No-Mask Policy Sparks Backlash
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 27
Summary
Last Ditch kept its doors shut early Saturday, posting a notice that another meeting was underway inside instead of opening to supporters who had come to spend money.
The Greenfield, Massachusetts bar had planned to drop its Covid mask requirement on Saturday nights, a policy shift that went viral after a Boston Globe report.
That attention followed a podcast account of a vitriolic, hourslong meeting in which patrons and the owner argued over whether the bar was abandoning its mission to welcome everyone.
In a town of about 17,000, the dispute has turned a struggling basement bar beneath a Mexican restaurant into a national and even international flashpoint over queer spaces and pandemic-era rules.