It's the same reason the NHJ oped got so much attention. If you're in these highly educated spaces, you're always bombarded by these busybodies who call you a harm to society, so it's fun to watch them getting taken down a peg.
The reason the lesbian bar story is taking off so much is that every single person in left-of-center spaces has had to deal with people like this performatively harassing and boxing out anyone who dares to go back to normal life since the pandemic ended.
There's a certain type of leftist who saw everyone having to isolate and mask as the revolution they waited their whole lives for, and anyone who is not prepared to build the new world order around that is the enemy.