Sirbrina Guerrero

Sometimes a kiss is NOT just a kiss.

SEATTLE -- Most of the time, a kiss is just a kiss in the stands at Seattle Mariners games. The crowd hardly even pays attention when fans smooch.

But then last week, a lesbian complained that an usher at Safeco Field asked her to stop kissing her date because it was making another fan uncomfortable.

..."Certain individuals have not yet caught up. Those people see a gay or lesbian couple and they stare or say something," said Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington. "This is one of the challenges of being gay. Everyday things can become sources of trauma."

As the Mariners played the Boston Red Sox on May 26, Sirbrina Guerrero and her date were approached in the third inning by an usher who told them their kissing was inappropriate, Guerrero said.

The usher, Guerrero said, told them he had received a complaint from a woman nearby who said that there were kids in the crowd of nearly 36,000 and that parents would have to explain why two women were kissing.

..."I was really just shocked," Guerrero said. "Seattle is so gay-friendly. There was a couple like seven rows ahead making out. We were just showing affection."

On Thursday, after an internal investigation, the Mariners said in a news release that their seating staff had acted appropriately, and the couple was approached because of their behavior — which included "making out" and "groping" in the stands — and not their sexual orientation.

"We have a strict nondiscrimination policy at the Seattle Mariners and at Safeco Field, and when we do enforce the code of conduct it is based on behavior, not on the identity of those involved," Mariners spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said earlier this week.

I know baseball games can be long. They can get boring. But please, Please, PLEASE don't start "making out" and "groping" in the stands.

I don't want to watch anyone doing that at a game -- gay, straight, or whatever.

Frankly, I'm more than a bit put off by seeing the players grope themselves. Do it in the dugout, not at home plate or on the pitcher's mound or in the outfield. And not on deck. There's a lot of groping on deck. That's not exactly family-friendly. Sorry, I digress.

Anyway-- Guerrero is crying discrimination. I don't feel I can make a judgment on that. Is she telling the truth or is she using the incident to get attention and further her cause?

I don't know.

Was it a brief public display of affection or an inappropriate public display?
It's a she said, she said.

Were she and her girlfriend singled out while heterosexual couples are cut more slack?

I don't know.

...After the story broke, the Mariners were blasted by the sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, who wrote about the incident on the blog of the Stranger, an alternative weekly paper.

"They go out of their way to say it's a quote-unquote family setting," Savage said. "As a gay season-ticket holder, we've never been quite sure what that means exactly. I constantly see people see making out. My son has noticed and asked, `Do they show the ballgame on women's foreheads?"'

Savage called for a "kiss-in" to protest against the Mariners.

A "kiss-in." How groovy!

My take: Just watch the game. Everyone, just watch the game.