LOS ANGELES: The woman battling Bill Cosby to make public a 2006 settlement of her sexual-assault complaint against him said in court documents on July 28, she is lesbian, despite his sworn assertions, their encounter was consensual and he has a knack for reading women’s cues.

The revelation by Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee who has alleged the comedian tricked her into taking drugs before assaulting her in 2004, came in a legal memorandum filed in federal court in Philadelphia. In it, Constand’s lawyers argue that Cosby, 78, breached the confidentiality clause of their settlement through a series of public comments by his attorneys as they mounted a media campaign seeking to put his “spin” on the scandal.

Her attorneys contend Constand’s only recourse is for the judge to unseal the settlement and free her of the confidentiality restrictions so she can defend her reputation. Cosby’s legal team has been fighting to keep the entire case under seal. His lawyers took to the airwaves last week after excerpts from a sworn deposition he gave 10 years ago were made public, including his statements about being adept at deciphering sexual cues.

Explaining why he viewed his sexual encounter with Constand as consensual, Cosby recounted, his accuser had not appeared angry afterward. “I think I’m a decent reader of people and emotions in romantic sexual things,” he said in the excerpt, published by New York Times. Constand’s lawyers fired back at that assertion in her latest court filing, saying, “Despite his talent for interpreting female reactions to him, (Cosby) did not realise (Constand) was gay until the police told him.”