Shocking, unexpected, and extravagantly out of character, I know.
The August 31 Instagram post from Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, was upbeat, teasing a new DJ lineup and a volunteer meetup. But partway down the rainbow-hued post labeled “UPDATES!” was a sentence that would splinter the queer community in this small Pioneer Valley city and beyond. “It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional,” wrote Last Ditch.
Previously, patrons were required to wear a well-fitted KN-95 mask “or better” at all times.
The new policy was not received with love.
“Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with,” wrote one commenter.
“people like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” posted another.
“I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists [sic],” wrote a third.
Oh, forgot to mention “pathetic” up there, didn’t I? Feel free to throw that in in your heads, gang. Mea maxima culpas for that most lamentable lapse.
Link all squinched up in the original Insty post, so I just went with Ed’s excerpt.












- Entries