Undertaker to bereaved gay man: ‘We don’t deal with your kind’

Last updated on: May 2, 2017 at 4:40 pm by Jacob Lupfer

Undertaker to bereaved gay man: ‘We don’t deal with your kind’ 2017-05-02T16:40:53-04:00 Jacob Lupfer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Mississippi funeral home is accused of breach of contract for revising to provide transport and cremation services when it found out the deceased’s next-of-kin was his husband.

Mark Joseph Stern, a writer for Slate’s LGBTQ blog, has the story:

Initially, the nearby Picayune Funeral Home seemed like a perfect choice, and Gaspari paid the company $1795 to transport and cremate Huskey’s body once he passed. But when Huskey died and the nursing home contacted the funeral home to pick up his body, it refused to do so. The funeral home had discovered that Huskey’s next-of-kin was his husband, and, realizing Huskey was gay, informed the nursing home that it did not ‘deal with their kind.’

I love defending religious freedom. I really do. I think it’s very important. But I truly hope this does not turn into a religious liberty claim. Nothing in the complaint mentions the defendants’ religious beliefs. But I can see this story getting ugly very fast.

So far, it looks to be a case of straight up discrimination and breach of contract. But it calls to mind questions about what state-level legal frameworks might have prevented this. And what kinds of relief might be sought if, for example, Mississippi law prevented discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. As Stern, the Slate columnist notes, “If Picayune Funeral Home had rejected [the plaintiffs’] request before assenting to the contract, they might not have been able to sue at all.”

Let’s hope this is just an isolated act of discrimination.

But I know of some Christian legal advocacy groups that have seemingly never seen a religious freedom case they wouldn’t take. And while I can’t think of a single valid reason why a funeral director’s beliefs about marriage would compel him to tell a bereaved man that his husband’s dead body can rot for all he cares, I certainly wouldn’t put it past certain people to come up with one.

Uncategorized

Discrimination

LGBT

Previous Post

April 12, 2017

Is Callista Gingrich the next USA ambassador to the Holy See?

Next Post

May 25, 2017 Georgetown University reckons with its slaveholding past

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Faith2016 Christian right Christianity Debates Democratic Convention Donald Trump GOP nominating contest Inauguration Media News roundup Personal Polls Religious freedom Republican Convention Uncategorized

Select a Month February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz