Any suggestions on how to talk to or rather educate my CLOSE MINDED jury panel regarding my victim being gay. She was raped by her partner's brother. He said she consented and points out she was married before and "wanted it." Just some information about Tyler County: Population 21,000; no less than 35 churches; dry county surrounded by wet counties; local paper always has no less than two full pages of religous articles and church information. The majority believes gays are all sorry sinners. Help!

I'm not sure that would be a proper subject for voir dire. What would be the purpose of bringing it up then?

You may not even need to bring it up at trial as it probably isn't relevant to the issue of consent.

File a motion in limine asking that defense counsel approach the bench before mentioning or offering any evidence about the victim's sexual past. Look for some case law to throw in and throw in "relevance" and rule of evidence 412(a) - "In prosecution for sex crime, reputation or opinion evidence of past sexual behavior of victim is inadmissible." and (b).....

So how did everything turn out? I think it would be a great idea if, when someone asks for ideas, that they come back and let us know how it worked out for them. I think we would all learn from that. Just an idea.