A Western Massachusetts communist group is angry at The Boston Globe for writing about a lesbian bar that made masks optional one night a week.
The Western Massachusetts club of the Communist Party USA posted a lengthy statement on X last Thursday titled “Last Ditch and the MAGA Media.”
“The Western Massachusetts club of the Communist Party USA strongly condemns the Boston Globe for its September 22nd publication of an article targeting Last Ditch, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, and calls for solidarity with the queer and transgender people of our region facing heightened national scrutiny,” the statement said.
Last Ditch had required customers to wear KN95 masks or better. It recently made masks optional on Saturday nights, hoping the change would bring in more customers and help it pay its bills. Some customers strongly objected. The Globe wrote about it, and the story drew national attention due to its absurdity.
The communist group says that attention has put people in the area under scrutiny. It accused President Donald Trump and Republican state governments of carrying out a “genocide of LGBTQIA+ people.” The statement claimed transgender-identifying people have been denied health care and subjected to violence, imprisonment and other mistreatment.
“In this context, Western Massachusetts has become a refuge for internally displaced people,” the group said.
It said Greenfield, Northampton and Amherst have welcomed people fleeing the right. The statement also praised activists who have pushed the Daily Hampshire Gazette to adopt policies against what they call hate speech.
The group also mentioned The Globe’s endorsement of U.S. Representative Seth Moulton in his unsuccessful Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Senator Ed Markey. It called Moulton “notoriously transphobic” and said Markey won in part because he backed transgender rights.
“The Boston Globe, an ally of corporate lobbies across the state, stands on the other side,” the group said.
It accused the Globe of seeking right-wing readers after the primary. The statement called the Last Ditch article “not newsworthy” except as a way to draw attention to transgender-identifying people ahead of the midterm elections and profit from that attention.
The group didn't say whether Last Ditch should require masks on Saturdays.
“The Western Massachusetts CPUSA rejects the use of conflicts among LGBTQIA+ people and organizations as a tool of division by the extreme right,” the statement said. “We reaffirm our solidarity with all those struggling against the genocide of transgender people.”
NewBostonPost previously reported on the bar’s mask change and its money troubles.
