The âKiss Camâ is a staple of many sporting events. During breaks in game play, a camera focuses on two audience members and encourages them to kiss for all to witness on the big screen. But at the Washington Mystics, a WNBA team, there is no Kiss Cam. Because the cameras might capture two women kissing.
If youâve ever been to a WNBA game, you know the lesbian quotient is high. (Off and on the court, right girls?) Youâll find a disproportionately high number of girl-loving girls holding season tickets. But for the Mystics, the chance that two gals might share a smooch in front of an audience â that includes kids! â just isnât worth the risk. And not only is management okay with it, but so too are team members. (Possibly under direction from management?)
Says Mystics managing partner Sheila Johnson: âWe got a lot of kids here. We just donât find it appropriate.â
And point guard Lindsey Harding: âWe wouldnât broadcast on our Jumbotron about abortion issues because of the religious and political conflicts it would cause. Itâs a similar, sensitive subject. We donât want to put anything out there to turn down certain fans.â
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Laughably, the one organization youâd expect to have a problem with the teamâs obvious discrimination (based on family values) is the Human Rights Campaign. But they donât. OF COURSE. HRC vice president Cathy Nelson: âSheila and the Mystics have been nothing but supportive in our mind, showing up at all our dinners, events, even bringing the whole team once.â
To be sure, it appears the Mystics have a blanket ban on the Kiss Cam: Itâs not that they donât show girls kissing girls, they donât show anyone kissing anyone. So does that count as discrimination?
Well, yes, because itâs the rational behind their decision: Two women sharing a peck is just too bizarre to expose fans to. But the Kiss Cam has never been about broadcasting sexuality, but to show two fans in love. And for all the money lesbians send the WNBAâs way, perhaps the leagueâs teams could show some love back.
(No, the top photo is not of a Mystics game. Nor does it feature two ladies. We think.)
Firebird
As a fan of the WNBA & the Mystics I’m a little disappointed in this story. The original article was printed in the Washington Post; The same Washington Post that has its own issues with LGBT issues so this guy who wrote piece is sooooo qualified to talked about lesbians and women and sports.
While the WNBA and women’s sports in general can do a better job of “coming out”, they certainly aren’t the only league dealing with this issue. I also find it curious that no one is asking if at Wizards, Capitals, or Nationals games (all use the kissing-cam) a gay or lesbian couple would feel comfortable or safe for that matter kissing at these games. Because last I looked men’s sports weren’t that accepting of the LGBT community or at least acknowledge they have gay fans. Remember, that lesbian couple who was kicked out for kissing 2 years ago wasn’t at a WNBA game, rather it was an MLB Seattle Mariners game.
Secondly, please stop acting as if we discovered a dirty little secret. The discussion of the WNBA and sexuality comes up about once a year. And this time it was just a Washington Post writer who decided to write this article and you decided to pay attention to the WNBA. I hope though that you pose the same question about ‘closeting’ fans to the Wizards, Caps, and Nationals organizations. Oh wait, of course you won’t.
Bottom line it’s the fans who determine if the team is worth supporting and right now the fans think so. Currently, the Mystics lead the WNBA in attendance average. Gay or straight.
KD108
We have to remember that this is a business… if you alienate one section of your customers to showcase another (opposing) section, you can lose business, which is something you don’t want to do in this crappy economy. I’d be more upset if they HAD a “Kiss-Cam” but only showed hetero couples. I think if you feel that you can’t make something comfortably fair, it probably isn’t a good idea. I feel the same way about marriage, if they aren’t going to make it equal for gays and straights alike, the government has no business in it at all. If anything, I’m more upset because they get money from Exxon which is unrepentantly not gay-friendly in their policies and anti-discrimination statement.
This sucks but in this social and economic climate it’s the best decision. They’d rather not do it at all if they can’t make sure all of their customers are comfortable with it, so that’s fine. If anything get pissed off at the NBA “Kiss-Cams” which likely don’t show same-sex couple’s kissing although they’re likely in the audience too. It’s not the job of the Mystics manager to attempt to normalize the LGBT community through it’s programming, it’s her job to make sure this business makes money. If I go to a Mystics game I will unabashedly hold my partner’s hand and throw in a smooch or two, they may not decide to show us on the jumbo-tron, but they can’t stop me from being out.
Cam
@Firebird: your comment is a whole bunch of avoiding the subject. You can talk about whether or not they show gay couples ksising in mens sports all you want. But the fact is, that gays do NOT make up the majority of fans for the Washington Nationals, or the CAPS, but they DO for the Mystics. End of story, the majority of your fan base is lesbians, but the managing partner says that they get a lot of kids there so it would be innappropriate. Well sorry they feel that way, maybe lesbian dollars are innappropriate for them too.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the kiss cam is somewhat dumb, but this situation of not having it at all because it may have to show a lesbian couple kissing reminds me of that school in UTAH that got rid of all school clubs so they wouldn’t have to have a gay student club.
jason
I just find the kiss cam to be a silly thing anyway. If you want to kiss someone, do it in a natural setting and not in front of a camera.
jason
We need to distinguish between genuine lesbians and a couple of boner dykes in attention-seeking mode. Boner dykes don’t represent the gay community, nor have they paid their dues. They do it to prop up the girl-girl fetishes of straight guys, and not for genuine reasons.
anyway
The main angle on this story needs to be HRC’s defense of the Mystics.
Trivial discrimination? Yawn. HRC defending the perp? Not cool.
Spend money at the big soirees and you’ve written yourself a get-out-jail-free card for discrimination.
youcanthandlethetruth
We don’t want to have this kind of thing broadcast on TV where children may get to see it, especially before 10 in the evening.
M
I’ve seen a couple of women kissing on the kisscam at a Montreal Canadians game.. but they didn’t win the prize đ
M Shane
No. 8 ¡ Montreal is more French all the time. Straight men Kiss.
European’s and Canadians aren’t as fucked up as people here.