What's romantic about a katoey getting herself busted so she can be reunited with her prison beau?

Love is freedom of mind, right? To prove the liberating effect of love to the extreme, a transgender clutching a bag of marijuana reportedly surrendered her physical freedom to the Pattaya police, so that she could be reunited with the "warm and protective" man she fell in love with during a previous jail term.

For the sake of argument, we'll assume she's acting out of love, although she said this is, so to speak, a stopgap measure until her other boyfriend returns from abroad.

Unlike situations involving toilets or hospitals, the case is unlikely to spur a debate about the place of transgenders in prisons, since the transgender in question volunteered to be incarcerated among men.

But it could change in the future, if the phenomenon becomes common.

I know several gay men and katoey who can't find a good man and imagine the only "mates" they can land have "mate" prefixed by "in". These people tend to take too seriously the idea of rough, husky prisoners who turn gay at a drop of a bar of soap.

In addition to the usual porn fantasy sequences involving hunky uniformed guards, recent shows like "Prison Break" (for boys) and "Chicago" (for girls), featuring hot actors behind bars, don't help.

Instead of encouraging jailbirds to break out, as previously feared, they could inspire people to flock into the Big House. Who would reject the idea out of hand, if they could share a cell with Wenthworth Miller?

Situational homosexuality is common among those who find themselves in a same-gender environment for a prolonged period, such as the military or boys-only or girls-only schools.

Life would be easier for Nat if Thai prisons allowed conjugal visits. But then again, one wonders if her object (or sub?ject?) of affection would still be of the same-gender persuasion.

In any case, I hope our lovebird-turned-jailbird finds the venture worth her while and the price of the ganja. If all else fails, her other boyfriend will be back soon.