Yeah, Claremont has kept Kurt's stance consistent. Under his pen, Kurt has always walked around as himself in public. It was Rucka (I think - he might have used it before) who suddenly had him use it again when visiting Kitty in Chicago (X-men Unlimited #38) and there was no explanation given for why he'd changed his mind. The one you gave might have worked, except that he had been met with violence before. He had just decided he wasn't going to let that stop him. I could see several good reasons to use the image inducer, but without an explanation, it just comes off as "he chickened out". Which is a shame, because making that promise was a very important step for Kurt.