Lesbian bars are dwindling across the US. How online outrage over mask policy dispute thrust one into the spotlight

( NewsNation ) — Lesbian bars have been disappearing across the country for decades.

With only 36 lesbian bars left in the entire country, according to the Lesbian Bar Project , one of the last ones standing getting caught in a fight over its own mask policy raises a bigger question: Why fight over rules for a bar that might not be around much longer anyway?

That’s the argument Jane Velez-Mitchell, founder and host of the nonprofit streaming network UnchainedTV, made on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight,” discussing backlash against Last Ditch in Greenfield, Mass., after its owner proposed easing a mask mandate in place since 2020.

The number of lesbian bars across the U.S. has been shrinking since the 1980s, when they numbered around 200, according to Newsweek .

“We deal with misogyny and violence and threats that make us want to maintain some exclusivity with who is welcomed into the spaces,” the former general manager of New York City’s Cubbyhole told the outlet. “It’s really important that lesbian bars hold space for everyone’s gender journey.”

Amid changing dietary habits and the rise of app-based dating, some say bars just aren’t an attractive venue anymore.

“We don’t need to go to bars to meet people anymore,” Velez-Mitchell said. “That’s why lesbian bars are closing.” She pointed to online dating and said some patrons are also drinking less, describing herself as a “sober lesbian vegan” who doesn’t rely on bars to socialize.

Beck & Stone senior consultant Emma Jo Morris acknowledged some business logic in catering to existing customers, saying “you don’t tell your client what your client wants… your job is to serve the client.”

Host Katie Pavlich pushed back, saying she believed “the general public is over” masks and said keeping the rule could cost the bar new business.

After making national headlines, the bar has been flooded with critical online “reviews” from people thousands of miles away.

Velez-Mitchell said the shrinking market predates this controversy, however. Last Ditch got its name, she said, because two other gay bars in the area had already closed. She tied the decline to changing times rather than any single policy, pointing to how routine public visibility has become for gay couples.

“I just walked for an hour with two friends of mine, a lesbian couple. They were holding hands the whole way and nobody blinked,” she said, adding that the same walk would have drawn stares 22 years ago.