It’s official. The “KissCam” has been shut down for all Washington Mystics home games. When faced with the problem of constantly making the one or two straight couples in the stands kiss for the giant screen or zooming in on a nice lesbian couple, they decided to shut the whole thing down. Problem solved. 

“We’ve got a lot of kids here. We just don’t find it appropriate,” said Mystics’ managing partner, Shelia Johnson.

Let’s be honest here, shall we? Is this such a big surprise? No. The WNBA is yet another in a long line of women’s sports that isn’t ready to “out” itself and admit it attracts a large lesbian fan base. I’m reading article after article stating how homophobic the decision is and suggesting kissing at all the games, and I agree with them all…but here’s a literally and figuratively painful question I ask myself:

Would I want to be the poster child for an ass-kicking after the game in the parking lot? Could I enjoy the rest of game if the person behind me made some snide remark?

I know…it sounds cowardly, and it is…but the simple fact is that we still live in an age where we have to pick our fights and pick our arenas for those fights. I’m out at work. I’m out to my family. If it comes up in conversation I’m happy to reveal my sexuality, but I don’t go around kissing my girlfriend in public.

OK…sometimes I do when I meet her at a restaurant or something, but you know what I mean. My point is, I have this instinct that I need to be sure of my surroundings, just in case. I want to do my part to further LGBT rights and visibility, but sometimes I just want to be left alone. Since I don’t see a lot of other gay couples holding hands and kissing out in public either, I think I’m not the only one…