Lesbian Bar Project Co-Founder: Purity Politics Could Destroy Our Remaining Spaces
I’ve spent years documenting sapphic venues around the world. After the mask controversy at Last Ditch bar went viral, respectful dialogue is key to keeping our spaces open.
This article was originally published by Uncloseted Media.
As a professional lesbian and Massachusetts native, I’ve recently been asked by a lot of folks what I think about the saga unfolding at Last Ditch. The now-viral story, first reported by The Boston Globe, centers on a Western Massachusetts lesbian bar that lifted its mask requirement for one night a week to help drum up business.
The decision ignited an intra-queer controversy that has been feasted on by media outlets across the political spectrum—from the New York Post to LGBTQ Nation—and is even reportedly being eyed for a Hollywood adaptation. Apparently nothing is more entertaining than a bunch of lesbians and queers fighting with each other over KN-95s.
What has been lost in all of the chatter and media coverage is the very real possibility that Last Ditch, which just opened in April 2025, will have to close its doors. The venue’s one remaining founder, Jackie Matellian, revealed in a community Zoom meeting that she’s working four jobs, is now solely responsible for the bar’s $50,000 business loan and is struggling to keep up with the bills. So as we laugh about the controversy’s similarity to a “Portlandia” skit and how one of the bar’s founders left to enroll in clown school, we forget that yet another lesbian bar is facing an existential crisis—and this time the call is coming from inside the house.
In 2020, my friend Elina Street and I created The Lesbian Bar Project, an Emmy-, Webby- and GLAAD Media Award-winning docuseries and initiative that tells the stories of lesbian queer bars around the world. We were moved to act because at the time there were only an estimated 16 lesbian bars in the United States, and the pandemic threatened to bring that number down even further.
There are now more sapphic bars than there were just before the pandemic—about 36 of them in total—but this is down from approximately 200 in 1980. Maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but for the millions of sapphics living in the U.S., this number is calamitous.
As the world laughs at lesbians and sapphics, I want to take a second and tell you what I feel when I walk into one of these bars, which are all unique and irreplaceable in their own way: I feel seen.
Sometimes I think Cubbyhole in New York City’s West Village neighborhood knew I was gay before I did. When I walked in there for the first time, before I was even out, I was transfixed by the colorful array of tchotchkes hanging from the ceiling and how the women standing next to me were completely unafraid to express their desire for one another. I knew the minute I was ready to come out, I had a home. I also felt the joy of a new couple falling in love at Seattle’s Wildrose, the quiet confidence of a short king lining up her shot at the pool table at Ginger’s in Brooklyn and the kick of cayenne pepper in Julie Mabry’s crawfish at Houston’s Pearl Bar.
Lesbian bars don’t just serve lesbians; they serve queer folks across the spectrum, including bisexual, pansexual and trans people. As Elina and I traveled across the U.S. and Europe and to parts of Latin America to document the bar owners, staff and patrons that make up the ecosystems of these spaces, we also became uniquely acquainted with the factors that threaten their existence: gentrification, wage gaps, sexism, environmental disasters, gun violence, rising insurance premiums and political administrations working to annihilate queer people and their families.
Lesbian bar owners, like all leaders and entrepreneurs, are imperfect. There have been significant issues over the years at lesbian bars: employee harassment, racism, lack of accessibility, sexual assault and transphobia. All bar owners should be held accountable and should listen to their communities to evolve into safer and more equitable spaces. I also acknowledge my privilege: I am able-bodied, white, cis and from a family system that loves me for who I am. Not everyone has that.
Queer people, especially trans and bisexual people, are suffering from disproportionately high levels of depression, and our mental health system isn’t equipped to support them. Immunocompromised people and long COVID are real, and many of my friends are suffering to this day. The people with the least safety net are often the ones for whom a bar closing costs the most. And yet, as we’re seeing with Last Ditch, the queer community often lashes out at each other. It’s also the mainstream media taking the internal conflict and making a mockery out of it, distracting from the real possibility that this bar could close due to financial pressures. A bar that many people loved and needed is facing extinction. Perhaps it’s safer to dissent with one another than with the larger forces trying to eradicate us, but in doing so, we risk destroying the few spaces we have left.
Due to the constraints of purity politics—some in good faith, some not so much—lesbian bar owners, almost all of whom are queer women themselves, are forced to be everything for everyone, similarly to how women are forced to be everything for everyone. By asking these bars to uphold impossible standards—standards very few other third spaces are asked to consider—we all end up losing.
I want to move as a community toward dialogue, compassionate dissent and collaboration to make our spaces better with the goal of keeping them OPEN and thriving, rather than destroying them from the inside with expectations that are arguably unattainable.
While I have your attention—for this fleeting second of the news cycle—may I urge us to spearhead a way to keep these small businesses afloat without attacking our own community along the way? Bar owners are left with an impasse: They want to be community-centered, but they also have to make money to keep their doors open. Sometimes they might make business decisions that don’t work for everyone—and that’s partly because different patrons have different priorities and want different things—but these owners deserve the opportunity for productive dialogue. We have to work with them and with each other to keep our spaces open, to keep them growing.
Lesbian bars raised me into the queer woman I am today. One thing I think about as I reflect on the six years of work we’ve done to document these spaces is that shared, unspoken language I have with a stranger the moment we both walk into one of these bars: the nod, the ease, the not having to explain ourselves. I don’t want to lose that, and neither should you.
What to know at a glance
What happened at Last Ditch?
The Western Massachusetts lesbian bar, which opened in April 2025, lifted its mask requirement for one night a week to boost business. The decision, first reported by The Boston Globe, sparked an intra-queer controversy that spread across outlets from the New York Post to LGBTQ Nation.
Is the Last Ditch bar going to close?
Closure is a real possibility. Remaining founder Jackie Matellian said in a community Zoom meeting that she is working four jobs, is now solely responsible for the bar's $50,000 business loan and is struggling to keep up with the bills.
How many lesbian bars are left in the U.S.?
About 36 sapphic bars operate in the United States today, up from an estimated 16 around 2020 but far below roughly 200 in 1980. The Lesbian Bar Project, launched in 2020, documents these venues in the U.S., Europe and parts of Latin America.
What is purity politics doing to queer spaces?
The author argues it forces lesbian bar owners, almost all queer women, to be everything for everyone and meet standards few other third spaces face. She calls for dialogue, compassionate dissent and collaboration instead of infighting that risks destroying the few remaining spaces.
Get Pride Source in your inbox
Michigan LGBTQ+ news, arts and community, free once a week.
It’s free, and you can unsubscribe any time (privacy policy).
Read More
Noah Arbit, Mark Bernstein Join ‘Nonnegotiable’ Jewish Democrats With Policy Demands for El-Sayed
Seventeen additional members of the Michigan Democratic Party on Tuesday joined a growing roster of Jewish voters who say they still have concerns about [...]Read more about Noah Arbit, Mark Bernstein Join ‘Nonnegotiable’ Jewish Democrats With Policy Demands for El-Sayed
Between The Lines Is Going Glossy. Here’s Why Pride Source Is Changing Its LGBTQ+ Newspaper.
The October issue marks a new era for Between The Lines. After 33 years as a newspaper, Pride Source's flagship publication now arrives as a glossy monthly [...]Read more about Between The Lines Is Going Glossy. Here’s Why Pride Source Is Changing Its LGBTQ+ Newspaper.
Before Christian Styles, There Was Zack: Friends Remember the Man Beyond the Porn Star
Editor's note: Pride Source is identifying some people interviewed for this story by first name only to protect their privacy, at their request.To more [...]Read more about Before Christian Styles, There Was Zack: Friends Remember the Man Beyond the Porn Star
Bargain Block' Recap: Wild West and Vintage Circus
Howdy, partners, and welcome to this week’s edition of the "Bargain Block" recap, where personal and professional partners Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas [...]Read more about Bargain Block' Recap: Wild West and Vintage Circus
Fight the Queer Book Ban By Lovin’ Up on These 11 New LGBTQ+ Reads
No matter what Republicans tell you, there’s never a bad time to get lost in a queer book. But now just happens to be a really good time to do so as parents [...]Read more about Fight the Queer Book Ban By Lovin’ Up on These 11 New LGBTQ+ Reads
More in News
Empathy, compassion and optimism will be missed
FERNDALE – He had a love of theater and, above all, a love of people. John Fowler, 62, died May 29 of liver disease. Born and raised in Painesville, Ohio, [...]Read more about Empathy, compassion and optimism will be missed
Detroit hair stylist found murdered
by Jessica Carerras DETROIT – Jeremy Waggoner, a 37-year-old Detroit resident, was found dead in a grassy field on Beaufait Street on Detroit's east side [...]Read more about Detroit hair stylist found murdered
Deputy speaker of Polish lower house disparages gays
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS #738 Stefan Niesiolowski, a deputy speaker of Poland's lower house of Parliament, the Sejm, disparaged gays June 5 during a [...]Read more about Deputy speaker of Polish lower house disparages gays
Big gay groups: Do marry, don't sue
By Rex Wockner National News Briefs Leading national gay organizations have issued a strongly worded advisory all but demanding that same-sex couples who [...]Read more about Big gay groups: Do marry, don't sue
