Man cleared of sexual assault because he is 'too gay to rape'

Alleged victim claimed the accused said he was bisexual

The judge said the woman's testimony was shaky

A Winnipeg man has been cleared of rape after he testified that he is 'flamboyantly' gay and finds the idea of having sex with a woman 'revolting'.

Justice Herbert Rempel conceded that he felt the man, who was accused of assaulting his female roommate at a party, may have overstated his 'flamboyance', but said there was no doubt in his mind he is gay.

"He made a point of testifying he was a flamboyantly gay man or effeminate and this was obvious in his opinion to any neutral observer," Rempel said. "He went on to state the thought of having sexual relations with a female revolted him."

The alleged victim testified in a trial last autumn that she awoke after a long night of partying to find the accused having sex with her.

The woman was given a medical examination which determined that semen was present but that it did not much the DNA of the man accused.

She claimed that the accused had told partygoers that he was bisexual on the night in question, which the man denied.

He said he had pretended that the boyfriend he was with was his cousin so as not to anger family members of his ex-boyfriend.

"It strikes me as passing strange that he would make this admission in the presence of his new boyfriend and several family members of his estranged lover," Rempel said, adding that he thought the woman's testimony was shaky.