A lawsuit has been filed against a Mississippi funeral home, accusing owners of refusing to cremate a man because he was gay.
John Zawadski, 82, and his nephew filed the lawsuit against Picayune Funeral Home for breach of contract and emotional distress, according to CNN.
According to the lawsuit, a verbal agreement was reached with the funeral home to cremate and host the memorial service for Zawadski's husband, Robert Huskey, who died May 10, 2016. After the funeral home owners discovered that Huskey was gay, they reneged on the verbal agreement, according to the lawsuit.
Picayune Funeral Home's actions left the family scrambling to make alternative arrangements. The nearest funeral home with an onsite crematorium was 90 miles away, according to the lawsuit, prompting the family to cancel the planned memorial service.
Picayune Funeral Home has denied all charges related to the lawsuit. One of the owners, Henrietta Brewer, told the Picayune Item that the funeral home has "never discriminated against a soul."
Zawadski and Huskey met in 1965 and married in 2015, shortly after the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage, according to the CNN report.
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