Cards Respond to Kiss Cam Request

Will the St. Louis Cardinals come through and show a gay couple on their kiss cam at this Saturday's game?

A spokesman for the team can't guarantee anything -- but he also didn't say no.

Earlier this week a group of people attending this Saturday's Out at the Ballpark event at Busch Stadium began e-mailing the Cardinals asking to be included on the kiss cam. On Thursday the Cardinals responded.

"Our stance is, we'll put you on the request list, no guarantees," Tony Simokaitis, director of scoreboard operations, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We look for lively areas, full areas where people are in their seats, watching the video board, somewhat paying attention. We try to get as many people in as we can in the minute and a half between innings. There's not a lot of time to allow us to make calculated judgments in terms of demographics."

Harrison Roberts, a local gay nightclub manager who is spearheading the campaign to get on the kiss cam, says he decided to approach the Cards after a bunch of his regulars came into the bar after a Rams game, upset by what they'd seen.

During the game, two obviously straight men appeared on the kiss cam and, for what those in attendance said "felt like minutes," looked at each other, disgusted. The moment was followed by jeers from the crowd.

"The day after it happened, I was working and a lot of our regulars are fans of various sports teams in St. Louis, and they were at the Rams game, came in and were talking to me about it," Roberts said. "I had this idea -- we have this event that's been in the works for months, why not take this opportunity to try to get on the kiss cam."

Roberts says some 200 people are expected to attend Out at the Ballpark this Saturday, with an after-party to be hosted at his club, Just John. The event was organized by the Cardinals in conjunction with local group Pride St. Louis.

As for the kiss -- Roberts says he isn't holding his breath, but if it does happen, he'd love for it to be at random.

"It's almost perfect, the response they gave, being, you know, we can't guarantee it," Roberts said. "If it happens at this point, it would be a surprise to lot of us. A lot of people are still skeptical."