1003: Three Discourse Meal
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Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast where supporting lesbian bars shouldn't require a degree in conflict resolution.
This week, co-hosts Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) are talking about late-stage capitalism, the impossibly high standards of being a lesbian in 2026, and the viral controversy surrounding The Last Ditch, a COVID-conscious lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
The Last Ditch discourse has taken social media by storm, and we wouldn't be a responsible lesbian podcast if we didn't talk about it. Leigh actually used to live in Western Mass, and it's impossible to understand what happened without considering the local culture. People move to the Pioneer Valley for a reason, and the viral Boston Globe article (which reads like The Onion but is somehow real) has put this tiny queer community under a microscope that glosses over that context. It's a very specific brand of lesbian and queer person who settles in the area, and the dynamics aren't necessarily comparable to larger LGBTQ+ communities like LA or NYC.
That said, there's plenty here that applies to the greater queer community. We'd be remiss if we didn't discuss the polycule breakdown, the clown college situation, and the white progressive pearl-clutching of it all. When The Last Ditch announced one mask-optional night a week to stay financially afloat, the backlash escalated from an Instagram announcement and a therapist-mediated town hall to hate crime accusations and even a public comment wishing for the bar to be firebombed. Firebombing should not be step one! And we're saying this as people who still take COVID precautions and wear masks in various situations. There were so many opportunities for an open community discussion about accessibility and the bar's financial struggles, but instead we got a perfect example of what happens when we leave absolutely no room for nuance.
It sucks that we live under late-stage capitalism, but we cannot ignore reality. The Last Ditch's owner is reportedly living in her car because of the debt she's taken on trying to keep the bar open, yet proposing one mask-optional night has people sending her death threats. Our society runs on women's unpaid emotional labor, and patriarchy doesn't magically disappear within the LGBTQ+ community. Lesbian bars are expected to meet every community need, provide endless care and accessibility, and somehow remain financially sustainable, while gay men's bars aren't asked to shoulder any of that responsibility. A gay men's bar could make the exact same decision without being expected to answer for the failures of an entire society.
There are already so few lesbian bars left in the United States, and we'll keep losing them if we don't actually show up and support them. We cannot jump straight to canceling a queer-owned business over one misstep. We're all human, many of us are neurodivergent, and maybe we all need to touch grass and have a little empathy for a woman who's doing her best to serve her community while also trying not to be literally homeless. The people we need to be fighting are not each other.
Having this discourse coexist with the “Cornell Seven” controversy is honestly breaking our brains. The double standard in how society excuses appalling behavior from men while holding women to impossible standards is staggering.
Accessible queer spaces are essential, but so is keeping them open. We have to make room for both without expecting lesbian bars to somehow operate outside the financial realities of late-stage capitalism.
We want to hear your thoughts! Have you been to the Last Ditch? Give us your own answers to our Q & Gay and follow along on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Email us at lezhangoutpod@gmail.com. Connect with us individually: Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida) and Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster).
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