the people only judged him for being annoying and not at all for being gay. :P It lowers the stakes.

Great point! Yeah, that line is canon for me now. :D

and just now I thought if he's simply worried that he can't control himself in public?

I think that definitely makes sense! He has self-control issues, as in, he always thinks he has less self-control than he actually does. And with ZYL being so shameless, there's no one else drawing any kind of lines for them.