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c/nottheonion · by Krauerking@lemy.lol · 1d

Massachusetts lesbian bar faces boycott after lifting face mask rule

https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/09/23/last-ditch-bar-masks/

And a Boston globe article that had a paywall and the title wasnt as fun:
https://archive.li/Bh47J

116 points · 38 comments · view on lemmy.world

38 Comments

W3dd1e@lemmy.zip · 95 pts · 21h (5 replies)

Context a lot of people seem to be missing by only reading the title:

This bar was catering to immunocompromised patrons. Not just women but women who can’t go to other public venues. This seemed to be a big part of the bar’s success.

It would be like a board game pub not letting people play board games one night a week.

ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 60 pts · 15h (3 replies)

But then if you actually read the article, the bar has only been open since last year and has been failing horribly, while the owner is working several jobs and lives in her car to try and keep it open. This was pretty much a last ditch effort to try and make enough money to not have to shut down and now the community members who have wanted a place like this to exist the most are getting all pissy and boycotting it. Essentially guaranteeing it's closure.

TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 15h (1 reply)

Yeah, this is 100% right.

My State is full of people like this. They scream and moan about things not catering to them... and when what they want does cater to them they won't support it, and they don't understand that businesses need customers to exist...

they just seem to want business to exist that cater to them... but don't actually want to ever patronize to such businesses. but the second that business decides to try and make itself more appealing to more customers... it's EVIL. And if you patronize this business... YOU are evil now too.

And if you try to point this out to them... they just go mental. They don't understand that businesses have costs, they think the notion of profitability/sustainability is also EVIL.

Same with housing. They protest for cheaper housing. OK, we need to build more housing then. And then when more housing is proposed to be built, they protest it too. The same people most of the time.

Generally here the people who scream the loudest are the most hypocritical. They screech at everyone we need more small independent businesses... but they all shop at Amazon and Target exclusively.

glimse@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 11h

I agree with you on everything but the housing part. The opponents are more often property owners in the area who have "something to lose" - in their resale value and the neighborhood getting more congested (but let's be real, their main reason is not wanting to live by the filthy poors)

That said, I wouldn't have moved here if there was a 20-unit building on the block so I imagine I wouldn't be thrilled about one getting built.

andros_rex@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 57m

I think the mistake was trying to run a bar instead of perhaps renting an event center or something a few nights a week. You just don’t have a community large enough to sustain that kind of space, which is the endless tragedy of queer spaces that aren’t in like New York, Los Angeles or London.

awfulawful@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 15h

Considering how deep in the red the bar is that it's relying on volunteers, success might not exactly be the word. Since it's got on one remaining owner who was only in it to support two owners who've left, the bar is not going to be around much longer without a dedicated, forgiving customer base. I have seen similar establishments with much more accommodating followings close.

Technus@lemmy.zip · 70 pts · 1d (1 reply)

Making masks optional one whole day of the week hardly seems like something that deserves a boycott, especially if the alternative is the bar going out of business.

Psionicsickness@reddthat.com · 21 pts · 23h

Yeah, but they made the poor decision to placate this small demographic for so long, this will always happen when they change.

OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 1d (22 replies)

What year is it?!

_fryerDan@sh.itjust.works · 30 pts · 1d (4 replies)

i wondered the same. seems like that's a thing with those bars

COVID-era safety norms have been especially prominent in some queer and disabled communities, sometimes creating friction with commercial realities, and online call-out culture can rapidly affect small hospitality businesses.

Technus@lemmy.zip · 18 pts · 1d (3 replies)

Some conventions (mainly furry ones) still require masks in their dealer halls.

wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 21h (1 reply)

Both MFF and AC have not required masking since... 2022?

Technus@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 21h

FC still does, though they haven't been consistent year to year

AcidBurn@retrofed.com · 2 pts · 13h

There was a covid super - spreader problem at a UK BDSM meetup a couple of weeks ago, apparently. Which sucks in a bad way.

Jinna@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 30 pts · 1d (15 replies)

The pandemic didn't end, the numbers just got low enough that most are willing to accept the remainder. Some communities have kept making the effort to stay away from the "acceptable losses" mentality which for those most immunocompromised may be their last lifeline to any in person contact with the rest of humanity.

So thanks for making a facetious joke I guess, but both sides of the issue in the article are real and there are no easy answers.

Sibbo@sopuli.xyz · 23 pts · 23h (6 replies)

There were and likely always will be diseases out there that kill people or significantly degrade their freedom in life. It's not just Corona.

Jinna@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 17 pts · 23h (5 replies)

Yes, it's a bit sad it took this long for enough people to reconsider if that's ok or not. You're free to continue choosing and calibrating the acceptable death rate of your actions. Just don't be surprised when others do not choose the same rate you personally consider acceptable.

architect@thelemmy.club · 1 pts · 44m

This place is literally closing.

Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · -1 pts · 7h

You better not drive, or eat meat, or use mined resources.

waterwasamistake@lemmy.zip · -9 pts · 22h (2 replies)

Nobody is choosing a death rate. The acceptable death rate is obviously zero but live does not work that way. Come down from your high horse.

TheSteamingPileOfShit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 15h (1 reply)

He said from his own high horse.

Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 7h

☝️"nO yOu!!!1!"

WoodScientist@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 23h

Numbers going down to levels comparable with numerous other diseases is very much the pandemic "ending." By your logic, the Black Death never went away. Some people still die from Yersinia pestis each year.

It's one thing to mask up in a real pandemic. It's another to advocate for a position where humanity will have to remained masked from now until the end of time.

Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 23h (6 replies)

That is call an endemic disease. Which is where most pandemics wind up. Diseases didn't suddenly come into existence in 2020, it is myopic to think that covid is exceptional. To the immunocompromised all transmittable diseases are dangerous and there are thousands of them that are endemic. The people claiming there is still a covid pandemic are uneducated conspiracy theorist on the same level of the anti-vaxxers.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 21h (5 replies)

Masks don't just inhibit the spread of Covid. They caused a precipitous drop in influenza, another potentially deadly disease, during the height of the pandemic. And other respiratory diseases were diminished as well. People with compromised immune systems were ironically safer in public places than any other time in their lives. Now these spaces which continue masking provide social interaction and emotional support for them and their friends. I didn't know it was a thing but I think it's great, I hope they make enough business to continue. I mask when I'm in indoor public places because my vulnerable spouse is recovering from their second pneumonia hospitalization this year, but I'm aware masks are better at containing germs than keeping them out, which is why the group effort is more effective.

Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 9 pts · 21h (3 replies)

Im sure getting people to practice basic hygiene would also help, people are nasty.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 14h (2 replies)

I don't know about you but I find wearing a mask helps remind me about washing my hands before touching my face.

I do think it could lower profits in a bar because you'd be more conscious about drinking and eating.

Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 7h (1 reply)

If you are were a mask while not sick, you are delusional. It is hygiene theater. Unless it is a properly fitted N95 mask you are doing nothing than giving yourself false security. Having a venue specifically for the immuno-compromised is fine and all but if there are not enough of them to keep the business afloat, boycotting them wont change that. Maybe having specific events hosted at the bar would work better than expecting everyone at all times to cater to a specific demographic. Also the sorts of people that dont wash their hands and cover their mouths with their elbows while coughing dont care and infact actively try to negate the efforts of others.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1h

Who said it's not a well-fitting N95? I don't mask for appearances. It's snug around my nose so my glasses stay clear.

As for the bar, there's obviously a large supportive community or they wouldn't be trying to get the bar to continue the ongoing protocol, or their boycott wouldn't threaten the bar's finances. Anyone trying to negate the efforts is gonna regret angering the lesbians.

Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 15h

Similarly COVID doesn't just spread COVID, it weakens the immune system in ways that permanently make people more vulnerable to other illnesses and more likely to develop autoimmune disorders. Many endemic diseases like flu are still seeing higher rates of hospitalisation than before.

StabbingSky@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 12h

They catered to immunocompromised women.

ImWaitingForRetcons@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 23h (2 replies)

… this sounds like classic taking an axe to your own leg scenario. I don’t think there’s that many lesbian dive bars left there for the patrons to decide to financially wreck a bar to be a good decision.

Zorcron@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 13h (1 reply)

According to the article, there are plenty in the area.

AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2h

Could you quote that line of the article please? I'm not seeing it.

Lesbian bars have sharply declined in number across the US over recent decades, making surviving venues culturally and historically significant. Queer bars often function as informal community centres as well as nightlife venues, hosting mutual-aid events, fundraisers and political organising. COVID-era safety norms have been especially prominent in some queer and disabled communities, sometimes creating friction with commercial realities, and online call-out culture can rapidly affect small hospitality businesses.

AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2h

A community meeting on 11 September was held to address the controversy, with some participants joining via Zoom to voice their opinions on the new mask mandate.

During the meeting, Jackie Matellian, the bar’s last remaining owner after the other two owners quit months earlier, became emotional while speaking about the pressure she was under.

“It was not my passion project,” Matellian said. She said she had been left responsible for a $50,000 business loan, and had been living in a car for six months while working four jobs. “I never really wanted this,” she added. “I don’t think I’m doing a very good job.”

This community meeting was not able to bring forth a resolution.

This really says more about the community than anything else.

moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com · 1 pts · 32m

Man, I wish I had one bar that had a seriously enforced N95 masks required just one night of the week in my whole city

moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com · 1 pts · 34m

How did people consume food or drinks with masks on?

RedIce25@lemmy.world · -5 pts · 22h

Why do Massachusetts lesbians wear masks in the bar?