Supreme Court rejects military sodomy case


The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to review an Air Force lieutenant's criminal conviction for having sex with a 15-year-old boy, which the officer contended was protected by a previous court decision overturning state statues that criminalized gay sex. Justices, without comment, rejected the appeal by Second Lt. Ryan W. Davis. He pleaded guilty to consensual sodomy and conduct unbecoming an officer in military court following an April 1997 meeting with a boy at a park in Gulf Breeze, Fla. Davis was subsequently dismissed from the Air Force, confined for 24 months, and ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances.


~

Patong's ladyboys struggle to cope in badly damaged tourist industry
Jonathan Watts in Patong beach
The Guardian


Even without the high heels and the giant blue plumes of her feathered headdress, Jana is a very tall girl. In fact, she normally towers over most of the customers at the Moulin Rose (sic) cabaret club, where she performs lip-synch renditions of The Power of Love. But tonight, she is slumped in a chair and feeling low.
For Jana is one of the hundreds of "lady-boys" on the red-light strip of Patong beach who survived the tsunami but are struggling to cope with its economic aftermath: the devastation of a large chunk of Thailand's tourist industry.