Gay Senior: Mississippi Funeral Home Refused to Bury My Husband

Octogenarian John "Jack" Zawadski refuses to take discrimination sitting down, especially when it involves his deceased husband. The 82-year-old Mississippi man is suing the Picayune Funeral Home after employees there allegedly refused to bury his husband, CNN reports.

Zawadski was seeking the services of the funeral home after his partner of over 50 years, Robert Huskey, died last year (the men wed shortly after the Supreme Court approved marriage equality in 2015). Huskey's nephew reached out to the funeral home to pick up his uncle's body from a nursing home, but upon discovering Huskey had a male spouse, services were rescinded, according to Zawadski's lawsuit. After being rejected, the family had to immediately find another funeral home to accomodate the body; the nearest available services were 90 minutes away. The frantic search for a new funeral home and the distant location of the one found meant the family had to cancel a planned memorial service.

Zawadski, now represented by Lambda Legal, is suing the Picayune Funeral Home for breach of contract and emotional distress. Employees of the funeral home have denied the claims by Zawadski, even though Huskey's nephew has quoted them as saying they "adamantly" refused to provide him service and they do not "deal with their kind."

Mississippi passed a law legalizing religious-based discrimination against LGBT people, but a judge struck it down last year. President Trump will reportedly sign an executive order on Thursday that would allow businesses like the Picayune Funeral Home -- and all those that claim religious objections -- to turn away LGBT people.