Alleged victim says Cosby misread cues that she was gay

A former basketball player, Constand was working in 2002 as the director of operations for the women’s basketball program at Temple University, where Cosby was a member of the board of trustees.

In court filings yesterday in Constand’s case against the comedian in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, attorneys Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz revealed that Constand is a lesbian. She cited the deposition in the Constand case as an example, even though the headlines it generated turned off Whoopi Goldberg, one of the few public supporters Cosby had left.

The parties in Constand’s 2005 sexual battery case against Cosby now accuse each other of breaking the confidentiality clause. “As defendant admits in his deposition, despite his talent for interpreting female reactions to him, he did not realize Plaintiff was gay until the police told him”.

Writer Sammie Mays is one of 35 women on the cover of the latest New York Magazine who claim the comedian attacked her.

A full transcript of that deposition – the only time Cosby is believed to have addressed under oath questions on his sexual history – was later obtained by numerous news outlets. He offered her pills for stress; she thought she was taking an herbal medication.

Mays told the BBC that she was a cub journalist and met Cosby at The National Association Television Program Executives conference in New Orleans. She woke up later on his couch feeling sore, with her clothes askew. “Real Rape”, I called it, because it was only after being informed in some detail that I was raped by a ideal stranger wielding an ice pick in my parking lot in broad daylight that most people would accept that I was “really” raped. One says he raped her while she was grief stricken over the recent death of her six-year-old son. “What happened at the Smothers Brothers show?!’ I had no idea what she was talking about, and said so”.

She argued that Cosby has hired a team of lawyers, agents and publicists to attack accusers and media reports, while Constand, now a physical therapist in the Canadian province of Ontario, has been forced to remain silent.

“When the deposition said that there was use of Qualuudes – which was…” New York Magazine is giving powerful and recognition to the voices of the women who have stepped forward, and all those who were victimized by Cosby. He appeared to see nothing wrong with drugging women to take advantage of them, women who believed his interest in them was as a mentor or a friend, not as a predator.

Constand’s story of her encounter was similar to that of some other accusers. We loved his smart comedy, and many of us appreciated his candor in demanding more from parts of the black community.