Lesbian bar shuttering after being dragged by MA LGBTQ patrons for allowing mask-free night

The Covid-conscious lesbian bar in western Massachusetts that went viral in September after LGBTQ people grew angry that one night per week would be mask-optional has announced that it is closing down.

A post to Last Ditch’s Instagram account announced that it was undertaking a “soft closing” effective immediately, and that booked events would continue through the winter.

The post stated, “WE ARE CLOSING. We have put our lives on hold to foster networks of care, resources, and a home base for organizing. It's time we pass it on. We've been fighting since the beginning to fill out the team, and we still don't have a board/leadership to manage workers owned Co-op transfer. We are SOFT CLOSING effective immediately, all BOOKED events will CONTINUE, otherwise we are CLOSED. Love and solidarity to all.”

A flyer posted by the account stated that Last Ditch was in search of “co-owners, owners, or full sale.” It added, “we need new owners ASAP, we close this winter.” 

The bar went massively viral in September after a Boston Globe piece was released covering the backlash the bar, which still required masks, received after announcing that Saturdays would be mask-optional. The bar opened in 2025 with a mask requirement for patrons. 

The bar had originally been opened by three housemates: Asa Rosario, a drag performer who uses it/its pronouns, Jackie Matellian, who uses she/they pronouns, and Sage. Matellian is the sole remaining owner. She said the other two left due to health issues and other “pressures,” and that one had left to enroll in clown school. Matellian said she had been living in her truck for six months and worked four different jobs in an effort to pay back loans taken out to start the business. 

The bar also had a rule that no one would be turned away due to a lack of funds, saying that “poor and unhoused people are welcome in the space.” The owners quickly fell behind on bills and payments to workers, and visitors increasingly said they couldn’t pay the cover fee.

The bar was attacked for being “ableist” for relaxing their masking rule for one night and held a mediated meeting with patrons and others invovled in the business that went on four nearly four hours in early September. 

In the wake of the Boston Globe piece, the bar turned away dozens of potential patrons from its first mask-optional night, declaring it a “private event” in which only those who could name someone inside were allowed to enter. The bar cited fears of being “infiltrated.”