A lesbian who deserted the U.S. Military two years ago and fled to Canada citing harassment due to her sexual orientation has been given another shot at refugee status, Canada's Federal Court ruled Friday, according to the Associated Press.
Bethany Smith, who has said she fled the army after an onslaught of harassing messages and threats from other soldiers based on her lesbianism took her case to federal court in Canada after the Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada, rejected her plea for refugee status.
Judge Yves de Montigny said Friday that the board made a mistake when it rejected Smith's case last February.
Smith testified she was stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., where she was threatened with being beaten to death with a baseball bat, a crime committed against a gay soldier at the base in 1999.
When Smith confessed her sexual orientation under "don't ask, don't tell," which would typically get a soldier discharged, the army responded saying that her discharge papers could not be processed prior to her next tour of Afghanistan.
Upon her discharge denial, Smith, then 19 years old, drove with another soldier to Canada at the Cornwall, Ontario border and began living under the assumed name Skyler James in Ottawa, Ontario.
Canada's Federal Court ruled Friday that the board must reconsider her case as it dismissed that lesbians and gays face harassment and brutality in the American military.
"At the heart of the applicant's claim is that she is a lesbian member of the U.S. army, who was harassed and threatened at the same base where a gay member of the army was beaten to death and who feels she could not rely on her superiors to secure protection," the judge said.
"She fears that she could be punished for leaving an environment where her life is in danger."
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