I am bisexual.

It’s not something I advertise … well, until now. It’s partly because it has taken time to accept that about myself, and partly because I didn’t really understand what being bisexual meant. It’s also because I grew up in the conservative state of Oklahoma, where non-heterosexual people are easy targets for political fodder and bigotry. And, as a former LPGA golfer, I was afraid of falling into the stereotype that many people have of female athletes: that the circuit is filled with women hooking up with each other.

Golf is a hard sport to be out in. The usual players we see pushed and promoted are the All-American girls who, as far as we know, are straight, patriotic and don’t cause any waves politically. That makes sense: the golf world is mostly conservative, where “family values” trump those of us who don’t fall into the traditional lines that society forces upon us.

Some of the more traditional golf fans may say how sinful my “lifestyle” is or that I am just “confused”. But their attitude doesn’t bother me. I care more that the LPGA still haven’t vocally supported the LGBTQ community.

I thought about the LPGA’s silence this past Pride Month, during which organizations including the NWSL and MLS (soccer), WNBA (basketball) and USTA (tennis) tweeted their support or held events celebrating the movement. Compare those organizations’ efforts to the LPGA’S social media feeds. I never saw a mention of Pride Month. No rainbows. No press release saying they’d dedicate funds from ticket sales to LGBTQ youth organizations. No sign of support for gay players on tour or the fans who cheer for them.

The reluctance of the LPGA to openly show support for the LGBTQ community is not surprising. They have relationships with large corporate sponsors, and their fanbase is for the most part, conservative. But showing support for a group of people routinely discriminated against is not bold. It’s simply the right thing to do.

At one point, the LPGA did take a stand in the hope of being just and fair. During the 1960s, when the African American tennis star Althea Gibson qualified for the LPGA Tour, she routinely faced discrimination from golf courses, who didn’t want black players on their greens. At the time, Lenny Wirtz was the LPGA’s tournament director and sought to create a more inclusive tour. When golf courses began turning their “open” tournaments into “invitationals” so that they didn’t have to invite Gibson, Wirtz said: “We all play, or we all stay away.”

In fact, the LPGA took a vote with the players and they agreed that the tour should not play unless everyone was welcome. This was pivotal in creating a more inclusive tour for people of color, and was a risky move at the time. The LPGA could have lost sponsors and fans. They didn’t care. They did what was right. So why not do the same for the LGBTQ community?

They won’t lose sponsors because, honestly, what kind of company would pull out just because the LPGA vocally support their gay players? The backlash would be immense.

And if a sponsor does pull out? Then find another one that supports equality: there is no shortage of candidates.

Of course, while the LPGA do not fly the rainbow flag from their offices, they do not discriminate against players based on their sexual orientation. The organization prides itself as open and welcoming. As a representative from the LPGA told me over the phone: “We’ve shown support for all walks of life on the tour, and we don’t feel the need to make a public statement to enhance our support that is already there.”

But is that enough? The president of the United States is a fixture in the golf world – one of his courses hosted last year’s US Women’s Open – and his policies have consistently attacked the LGBTQ community. By publicly showing support for LGBTQ people, the LPGA can show that golf is opening and welcoming to all. It gives the LPGA a chance to be a progressive voice and to set a new standard for where the sport should be, rather than where it is.