Mask policies at a lesbian bar in a small western Massachusetts town don't sound like the kind of topic that would become a viral sensation. But that's exactly what happened when the Boston Globe published a look last week into the uproar that ensued when Last Ditch, a bar in the small LGBTQ-friendly town of Greenfield, Mass., decided to transition to a mask-optional policy for its Saturday night happy hours.
"Shocking news … the internet is a strange place, particularly when it comes to extremely niche squabbles," Globe correspondent Dave Beard wrote in reaction to the story's extraordinary reach.
The day after the story was published, the paper's managing editor reportedly told staff that it had generated more than 1,000 new subscriptions, was "by far" the best-performing story of the year and was on pace to "shatter" all sorts of content records.
Online conversation about the "COVID-conscious lesbian bar" ignited with a velocity that's rare even in our viral age. Even members of Congress couldn't help cracking their jokes or launching their critiques.
There are also reports that the ordeal has drawn Hollywood's attention for a potential adaptation.
Here's a breakdown of what happened, why the story became such a phenomenon and the various debates it has triggered.
As told by the Globe, it all started with an Instagram post. On Aug. 31, Last Ditch's management — who founded the bar as a haven for "Dykes, Transexuals, Gender Freaks, Workers, and their friends" — shared a flier with the bold headline "UPDATES!" Among the notices in the post was the line "It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional." The decision was made "after an outpour of feedback from our regulars, volunteers, and team," Last Ditch wrote.
Comments on the post have since been disabled, but according to the Globe, the response was immediate and furious. One commenter accused Last Ditch of "being complicit in a mass disabling event."
"People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience," wrote another.
Someone else added that they hope the venue gets "firebombed."
The criticism centered around accusations that switching to a mask-optional standard was "ableist" — a word used to describe laws, policies or attitudes that, in the words of the Center for Disability Rights, "devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities." According to the Globe, some of the fiercest critics even accused the bar of practicing eugenics, an antiquated and discredited scientific practice aimed at ridding society of those with "less suitable" genetics.
The responses came despite Greenfield reporting zero positive COVID cases since early July, according to state government data.
Last Ditch posted a follow-up two days later that included an apology for the "passive and dismissive tone" used to announce the new mask policy. That did little to quell the anger among the bar's critics, in part because it lacked alt text that would make it accessible to the visually impaired.
The debate boiled over even further during Last Ditch's monthly community meeting the following week. Despite the presence of two mediators who were there to keep the conversation on track and civil, things got heated quickly.
Jackie Matellian, the last of the bar's three founders still involved in daily operations, was bombarded with angry messages from patrons who attended the meeting in person or via Zoom. One particularly critical remote attendee, whom the Globe describes as "a performer and artist who goes by Soe Noire," reportedly flooded the Zoom chat with statements claiming that Matellian was not only disregarding the concerns of disabled people, but also minimizing minority voices.
"I'm hearing a WHITE therapist ... center[ing] the feelings of a majority white and white adjacent staff," wrote Noire, who is Black, according to the Globe.
The 3.5-hour meeting reportedly did little to quell the discontent, but the drama remained a niche story within the small western Massachusetts community until last week, when the Globe published a lengthy feature story on the disagreement.
In its first public comments since the story went viral, Last Ditch shared an Instagram message defending Soe Noire and criticizing the "disorganization of the Globe's article."
Almost immediately, the Globe's portrayal of the fallout over Last Ditch's mask policy became the subject of fascination, debate and jokes across social media.
At first, a lot of the discussion focused on highlighting the many out-of-the-ordinary details from the story — Zoom attendees reportedly arguing that the therapist mediator was essentially a cop, regulars being asked not to approach the discussion from "places of righteousness," the fact that one of the founders stepped back from the bar to attend clown college.
Much of the early reaction could be boiled down to fascination with this deep look into a world that is wildly different from the life of the average American.
"Great article!" one commenter on the Globe's online version of the story wrote. "It reads almost like a visit to another planet, which it kind of is."
The phrase "COVID-conscious lesbian bar" and its variants quickly became cemented in the lexicon of the chronically online, alongside classics like "30-50 feral hogs," "milkshake duck" and "bean dad."
Like many trends that start as a platform for jests and playful memes, the conversation eventually veered into a deeper debate over what the surprisingly enthralling drama at the Last Ditch represents about our society.
Many conservatives framed the story as a prime example of what they view as the absurdity of "wokeness" on the left.
"Leftism is a mental disease," Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on social media.
An opinion piece published by the Washington Post on Sunday carried the headline: "The Great Awokening is over. This lesbian bar shows why."
Some left-leaning critics argued that the virality of the story was entirely rooted in the way it gave conservatives another opportunity to demonize progressives.
"'Woke has gone too far'" outrage bait is very profitable!" tech journalist Taylor Lorenz argued. "This type of content sustains half the internet."
"The coverage was heavily sensationalized," freelance journalist Katelyn Burns wrote on Bluesky. "I think you could go to most local clubs or churches and find people just as wild."
To some commentators on the left, Last Ditch reflects a very real problem of infighting that often happens in progressive communities, which end up battling among themselves rather than promoting their causes out in the broader world.
"The harrowing story is surprisingly relatable … especially for anyone who has spent much time in leftist spaces in the past several decades, LGBTQ+ people who have tried to get more involved in the community, and LGBTQ+ leftists and left-leaning people who want to actually make the world a better place," Alex Bollinger wrote for LGBTQ Nation.
In Greenfield itself, the response has been a combination of bewilderment at the attention their small town has gotten and concern for the future of Last Ditch.
"I worry about their ability to weather this storm," City Council President Lora Wondolowski told the Greenfield Recorder.
A local business owner told the paper she hopes the bar's surprise notoriety will prove to be a blessing.
"I hope it brings them endless business, I hope it fills their doors, I hope it brings business to Greenfield," said Elizabeth DeNeeve. "They're micro-influencers now."