A Massachusetts venue that briefly relaxed its mask mandate has reversed course after facing an intense online backlash from its own customer base.
The Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue announced at the end of last month, via Instagram, that it would begin allowing mask-optional Saturday nights. “It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional,” the post read.
The response was swift and hostile. Commenters accused the venue of “complicity in a mass disabling event” and of harming immunocompromised people for the sake of profit. One commenter wrote, “I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists.” Another said the change made “the entire ethos of your space feel hollow,” given the bar’s founding mission of creating a masked, accessible space.
Within days, the venue backed down. “We are sorry for our passive and dismissive tone of our change to the norms and schedule impacting the most intersectional of us,” the venue said in an updated Instagram post. “We understand everyone faces different intersections and we are always working to consider all needs fully.”
The Last Ditch’s current House Rules now state that “wearing a well-fitted KN-95 respirator mask (or better) is required at all times.” Patrons who refuse can be asked to leave or offered “the opportunity to engage in an accountability process if deemed appropriate.”
The same accountability framework applies to a long list of prohibited conduct at the bar, which states: “Racism, Misogynoir, Transmisogyny, Ableism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and any other discrimination will not be tolerated. Anyone who doesn’t abide will be asked to leave the space if necessary and provided with an opportunity to engage in an accountability process if deemed appropriate by those harmed.”
The Last Ditch was opened by three housemates in their mid-20s who wanted to fill a gap left by two local queer bars that had closed. One of the founders, Asa Rosario, a drag performer who uses it/its pronouns, envisioned the space as a venue where it and its friends could perform.
Since the mask controversy, two of the three founders have stepped away from day-to-day operations at the bar. One of them has since enrolled in clown school.
