Funeral Home Sued for Refusing Body of Gay Man: We Don’t ‘Deal with Their Kind’

Lambda Legal has joined a lawsuit against a Picayune, Mississippi funeral home which refused to handle funeral arrangements for Robert (Bob) Huskey after it learned that Huskey was gay, leaving Huskey’s husband, 82-year-old Jack Zawadski (above) to have to scramble to make other arrangements shortly after Huskey’s death.

Bob and Jack were a couple of 52 years who married shortly after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. Huskey’s health declined shortly thereafter and he died.

Writes Lambda Legal:

After Bob died on May 11, 2016, the nursing home provided Picayune Funeral Home with necessary information confirming Bob’s death and identifying Jack as his husband. Shortly thereafter, the nursing home called their nephew John and informed him that Picayune Funeral Home was now refusing to pick up the body and perform the cremation.

Since the nursing home could not keep Bob’s body on site, Jack and John had to scramble to locate another funeral home with an on-site crematorium. They located one in Hattiesburg, some 90 miles away. By that time, because Bob’s body could not be housed at the nursing home for the hours it would take for the Hattiesburg hearse to arrive, they had to find yet another funeral home in Picayune willing to transport Bob’s body to Hattiesburg.

“John made all necessary arrangements before Bob’s passing in order to shield his 82-year-old uncle from additional suffering and to allow friends to gather to support Jack in his grief,” Littrell explained. “Instead, Bob’s peaceful passing was marred by turmoil, distress and indignity, adding immeasurable anguish to Jack and John’s loss. This should not have happened to them, and should not be allowed to happen again.”

Lambda’s complaint says that Picayune Funeral Home told Zawadski they don’t “deal with their kind.”

The Clarion Ledger reports:

The suit identifies Brewer Funeral Services, the parent company of Picayune Funeral Home, and owners Ted and Henrietta Brewer.

When reached Tuesday afternoon, Henrietta Brewer vehemently and tearfully denied the allegations. Brewer said the funeral home has served numerous gay families over the years.

“It’s not true,” she said of the allegation. “We have done many gay families.”

Offering an example, Brewer said a man in Florida sends flowers every season for the funeral home to place on the grave of his late husband who is buried in Memorial Gardens, a cemetery owned and maintained by the Brewers.

She would not provide the identification of the widower.

Brewer said she doesn’t know where the allegation stems from, saying, “We did not refuse this man because he was gay. We didn’t refuse him at all.”

She said there was no contract between the funeral home and Huskey’s family.

Lambda Legal attorney Beth Littrell says the funeral services company is lying:

“I am confident that we will be able to prove through witness, phone records and other means that what we claim in the lawsuit is in fact what happened,” she said.

Watch Jack’s story:

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant Intervenes In Same-Sex Divorce Case

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (R) is opposing an appeal from a lesbian woman who is asking the state’s supreme court to recognize her gay marriage performed out of state so the state may subsequently grant a divorce. Bryant is being represented by the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. The Clarion-Ledger reports:

The high court said Monday that it would hear the case instead of assigning it to the Court of Appeals. Tuesday, justices approved Bryant's motion to intervene. It's unclear if the court will hear oral arguments or when it might rule. 

In 2013, DeSoto County Chancery Judge Mitchell Lundy Jr. ruled that the Mississippi Constitution and statutes prevented him from granting a divorce to Lauren Czekala-Chatham and Dana Ann Melancon. 

The women married in San Francisco in 2008 and bought a house in Mississippi before separating in 2010. They could divorce in California, but Czekala-Chatham says she shouldn't be treated differently than straight couples. 

Just last month, the campaign for Southern Equality urged same-sex couples in Mississippi to petition their local government offices to recognize their out-of-state unions, and at least one Mississippi couple was successful. It is unclear how that might affect the court’s ruling if at all.

Wesley Hisaw, Czekala-Chatham's lawyer, did mention that the U.S. Supreme Court may have an impact on this lower court decision. You’ll recall, SCOTUS will review five same-sex marriage cases behind closed doors on September 29.

Same-Sex Couples In Mississippi Fight To Have Out-Of-State Marriages Recorded

The Campaign for Southern Equality launched an action yesterday to have out-of-state marriages recorded in Mississippi. Same-sex couples from eight different counties tried to have their home state recognize the very real bonds of matrimony achieved elsewhere around the country, a difficult goal considering that Mississippi's same-sex marriage ban is still in place, along with their more recent religious-exemption-for-businesses legislation.

The Washington Blade reports:

Jennifer Pierce of Biloxi, who married her wife, Jena Pierce, in Connecticut last December, plan to try to record their marriage with the Harrison County Chancery Court in Gulfport. 

“To us our marriage license is more than a piece of paper or even the state recognizing we are a legitimate couple,” Jennifer Pierce told the Blade, referring to their 6-year-old daughter Auna who began first grade last week. “It’s about the protection of the little girl who sees us as her parents and getting legally married was the first step of many we need to take towards the protection and well-being of our family.” 

Public support for same-sex marriage in Mississippi is likely very low, though several mayors have expressed that they have "no problem" with the ceremonies. Still, the Magnolia State represents a difficult block to tumble in the movement toward full marriage equality in the U.S.

“Couples are recording their marriage licenses to create a public record of their love and commitment,” said Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. “LGBT people in Mississippi and other Southern states simply cannot keep waiting for equality. There is an urgent need for legal protections for families and individuals in Mississippi, and so we are calling for laws to change as quickly as possible to ensure that, no matter what state you live in, you are treated as a full and equal citizen.”

Though the action's efficacy on the whole is unknown at this time, one couple did send out a celebratory tweet:

Here's hoping that more of the appeals for recognition were heard and honored, and that Mississippi is on the path toward marriage equality.


Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz3AO8KQ98t

Gay Couple Kicked Out of Mississippi Restaurant on 'What Would You Do?'

ABC News' John Quiñones took his "What Would You Do?" hidden cameras down to Vicksburg, Mississippi. As you may recall, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant recently signed a bill into law allowing business to discriminate against gays based on religious beliefs.

Quiñones placed a gay couple in a Mexican restaurant to see the reactions they would elicit in various scenarios after it became clear to other customers that they are together. The show even went so far as to kick the couple out in order to see what would happen.

While most of the reactions are infuriating and disgusting, Quiñones does end up finding the sane and humane soul among them.

GOP’er Grilled Over Connections To White Pride Group

State Senator Chris McDaniel (R-Confederacy) is in hot water with the Republican Party Leadership in Mississippi.  McDaniel, the challenger to incumbent Senator Thad Cochran, is listed as a speaker for an event that promotes, “white pride” merchandise. Did no one tell the Republican Establishment this sort of racial sensitivity training is all part of the ongoing voter outreach program for those, “challenging minorities?”

The event, the Combined Firearm Freedom Day/Tea Party Music Fest, takes place in the appropriately named Guntown, Mississippi. One of the vendors at the event is an organization known as Pace Confederate Depot, a group that deals with Tea Party, White Pride, and Confederacy merchandise. Pace Confederate Depot is, unsurprisingly, listed by the SPLC as an, “active White national group,” and founder Brian Pace is on record saying, “whenever we had racial segregation, things were much better off.”

The McDaniel Campaign said that Chris never had any intention of going to the event and wasn’t going to be attending. Damage control handled the issue well; the updated fliers for the event doesn’t show McDaniel as a speaker. Still, Mississippi Chairman Joe Nosef believes that Senator McDaniel needs to backtrack as quickly as possible, clarifying where he stands on the issue. Nosef said in a statement to NBC Thursday:

I think he should clear it up as fast as he can. Running for the United States Senate is a very important thing and as a party we need to always be careful and focused and serious about what our views are and what our interests are. And if Sen. McDaniel thinks that there’s more to tell, to explain it, my thought as the party chairman would be, the sooner the better.

This is just the latest in a series of volleys between the Republicans and the Arch-conservative Right, who are eating the Republican Party alive. McDaniel, backed by a Who’s Who of big money PACs, including FreedomWorks and Club For Growth, is squaring off against Thad Cochran, supported by the Republican Establishment. This sort of thing is happening all over the country, with various moderate (or “moderate”) Republicans in danger of being eaten alive by their more extremist challengers.

This isn’t the first time that McDaniel has found himself in hot water over being politically insensitive; back in February of this year, McDaniel made some critical comments about Hurricane Katrina relief, earning some enmity from the coastal regions of his state.

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE PASSES ANTI-GAY 'RELIGIOUS FREEDOM' BILL

Less than a month after the Mississippi legislature sent the state’s Senate Bill 2681 (aka the “license to discriminate bill”) to committee for review, it returned — and has now passed, the Washington Blade reports:

In a development that largely went unnoticed on the national stage, the State House and Senate on the same day both approved a conference report for S.B. 2681, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The vote in the Republican-controlled House was 78-43 and the vote in the Republican-controlled Senate vote was 38-14.

Much like the controversial Arizona bill known as SB 1062 vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer, the six-page legislation never once mentions the words “sexual orientation,” “gender identity” or “gay.” Still, LGBT advocates insist the legislation would have the effect of allowing discriminatory practices against LGBT people seeking services in Mississippi.

The bill would allow businesses to deny service to LGBT people while claiming “exercise of religion.” But new text added to the resurrected bill would allow businesses to defy any “state laws, rules, regulations, and municipal and county ordinances” as long as they did so under “exercise of religion.”

MISSISSIPPI BAPTIST LEADER THREATENED RETALIATION ON GOP REPS WHO DIDN'T VOTE FOR ANTI-GAY BILL

Mississippi's Senate Bill 2681 is a reprehensible piece of legislature that opens the gates wide for anti-gay discrimination masquerading under the guise of "religious freedom."

The bill passed, and should any GOP representatives have been on the fence about the issue, Jimmy Porter, executive director of the lobbying arm of Mississippi’s Southern Baptist convention, the Christian Action Commission, was sure to set them straight, promising a "political calamity" should any of them vote against Jesus.

Said Porter in part,

The fact is that one’s position on this piece of legislation can be made public whether a vote is taken or not.  The leadership of the House will take a lot of heat for its failure if that is the case but it will be undeserved.  The Christian Action Commission will work diligently to ensure the blame will be laid at the feet of these 20 alleged Republicans [against the bill].  Approximately 60,000 Baptist households will read about it and know the truth.  Add to that Pentecostal households, members of the Tea Party, followers of American Family Association, the Liberty Council and the Family Research Council, etc., and you begin to see the widespread interest in this bill. 

Who Would Jesus Harangue?

Terrifying Precedent: Woman to Be Tried for Murder for Giving Birth to Stillborn When She Was 16

Rennie Gibbs’s daughter, Samiya, was a month premature when she simultaneously entered the world and left it, never taking a breath. To experts who later examined the medical record, the stillborn infant’s most likely cause of death was also the most obvious: the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
But within days of Samiya’s delivery in November 2006, Steven Hayne, Mississippi’s de facto medical examiner at the time, came to a different conclusion. Autopsy tests had turned up traces of a cocaine byproduct in Samiya’s blood, and Hayne declared her death a homicide, caused by “cocaine toxicity.”
In early 2007, a Lowndes County grand jury indicted Gibbs, a 16-year-old black teen, for “depraved heart murder” —  defined under Mississippi law as an act “eminently dangerous to others…regardless of human life.” By smoking crack during her pregnancy, the indictment said, Gibbs had “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously” caused the death of her baby. The maximum sentence: life in prison.
Seven years and much legal wrangling later, Gibbs could finally go on trial this spring — part of a wave of “fetal harm” cases across the country in recent years that pit the rights of the mother against what lawmakers, health care workers, prosecutors, judges, jurors, and others view as the rights of the unborn child.
A judge is said to be likely to decide this week if the case should move forward or be dismissed. Assuming it continues, whether Gibbs becomes the first woman ever convicted by a Mississippi jury for the loss of her pregnancy could turn on a fundamental question that has received surprisingly little scrutiny so far by the courts: Is there scientific proof that cocaine can cause lasting damage to a child exposed in the womb, or are the conclusions reached by Hayne and prosecutors based on faulty analysis and junk science?
The case intersects a number of divisive and difficult issues — the criminal justice system’s often disproportionate treatment of poor people of color, especially in drug prosecutions; the backlash to Roe v. Wade and the conservative push to establish “personhood” for fetuses as part of a broad-based strategy to weaken abortion laws. A wild card in the case — Mississippi’s  history of using sometimes dubious forensic evidence to win criminal convictions over many years — could end up playing a central role.
Prosecutors argue that the state has a responsibility to protect children from the dangerous actions of their parents. Saying Gibbs should not be tried for murder is like saying that “every drug addict who robs or steals to obtain money for drugs should not be held accountable for their actions because of their addiction,”  the state attorney general’s office wrote in a brief to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

But some civil libertarians and women’s rights advocates worry that if Gibbs is convicted, the precedent could inspire more prosecutions of Mississippi women and girls for everything from miscarriage to abortion — and that African Americans, who suffer  twice as many stillbirths as whites, would be affected the most.

Mississippi has one of has  one of the worst records for maternal and infant health in the U.S., as well as some of the highest rates of  teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease and among the most restrictive policies on abortion. Many of the factors that have been linked to prenatal and infant mortality — poverty, poor nutrition, lack of access to healthcare, pollution, smoking, stress — are rampant there. 

“It’s tremendously, tremendously frightening, this case,” said Oleta Fitzgerald, southern regional director for the Children’s Defense Fund, an advocacy and research organization, in Jackson. “There’s real fear for young women whose babies are dying early who [lack the resources to] defend themselves and their actions.” 

Read more

Mississippi House Panel Advances Anti-Gay 'Religious Freedom' Bill

Mississippi's House Judiciary B Civil Subcommittee today advanced SB 2681, an Arizona-style 'religious freedom' bill that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays based on religious beliefs, the ACLU of Mississippi reports via Twitter.

The bill now goes to the full House.

Last week, after it was reported that the bill had been stripped of many of its discriminatory provisions, Deep South Progressive reported that the ugly parts of the bill still remain:

Those key parts of the bill, which LGBT activists feared would legitimize discrimination by businesses that claim “sincerely held religious belief” as the motivating factor, remain unchanged. That’s contrary to previous reports that said the bill had been amended to only include the section that would add “In God We Trust” to the Mississippi state seal.

Despite that, leaders of the state business community were declaring victory Wednesday night, saying that the bill addressed the concerns of the business community. The Mississippi Economic Council (MEC), said that SB 2681, as amended, “provides both positive clarification and focused direction so that the amended bill addresses only actions by government, not private businesses or individuals.”

STOP 2681 tweeted that "Jud B passed an amendment to add the word "substantial" so that any burden must be a substantial burden....Bill has passed out of committee with an additional amendment to require that any action be a state action."

If anyone can further enlighten on the contents of the bill at this point, please do so in the comments.

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Mississippi School District for Failing to Address Anti-Gay Bullying

The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Destin Holmes, a student who was bullied and harassed by teachers and students at Magnolia Junior High and Moss Point High School in Moss Point, Mississippi, Gulf Live reports.

The harassment is disgusting:

In March, Holmes said she was in her Magnolia Junior High math class last year when she experienced one of her worst cases of bullying, and it was initiated by a teacher.

The teacher had divided the class into 2 teams -- boys versus girls -- for a trivia game, Holmes said, but she called on the tomboy-looking teen to sit alone in the middle because she was an "in-between it."

Now at Moss Point High School, Holmes said the students are a little more accepting, but she still has trouble with staff.

In one instance, a substitute teacher wrote her up for not following directions, and the written referral called her "he." Holmes said the substitute knew she was female.

SPLC says the school district has chosen to ignore the situation:

The federal lawsuit -- filed in Gulfport this morning -- is being brought to enforce equal protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, the organization said, as well as students perceived as LGBT.

The filing is the next step in the case of 17-year-old Destin Holmes, a lesbian student who stood with the SPLC in March and said she was consistently harassed because of her sexual orientation and because she dressed in hats and masculine clothes. The harassment came from administrators, teachers and students, said Anjali Nair, a staff attorney with Southern Poverty Law Center.

After that March news conference, the SPLC said it would try to reach an agreement with the district to change the bullying environment, but Nair said an agreement was not reached.

OKLAHOMA: Governor Might Sue To Block National Guard Benefits For Gays

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that he was ordering all National Guard units to comply with Pentagon policy regarding spousal benefits for gay soldiers. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin may go to court to stop him.

Alex Weintz, spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin, said she “is working with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to evaluate the legal options available to the Oklahoma National Guard.” Weintz stopped short of saying Oklahoma will refuse to follow Hagel’s order, but made it clear Fallin would not go along with it willingly. “Gov. Fallin is calling on President Obama and Secretary Hagel to stop using the National Guard as a pawn in a larger social agenda,” said Weintz. “The president has made it clear he supports gay marriage. He has the legal authority to order federal agencies to recognize gay marriages. He does not have the legal authority to force state agencies to do so, or to unilaterally rewrite state laws or state constitutions.”

Following Hagel's edict, Indiana's Attorney General agreed to comply. Other states who have not yet done so: Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

Brendon Ayanbadejo Pens Open Letter to Ole Miss on LGBT Inclusivity Following Heckling Incident

In an open letter posted on Fox Sports today, Brendon Ayanbadejo offered to help the University of Mississippi's educational outreach on LGBT inclusivity following reports earlier this week of a mass heckling of a student production of 'The Laramie Project,' the Moises Kaufman play about the Matthew Shepard murder. Approximately 20 Ole Miss football players were involved in the heckling incident, with reports of some calling cast members 'fags.'

Says Ayanbadejo, in part:

The alleged behavior of Ole Miss football players along with freshmen from other sports and students attending the play to fulfill some underclassmen requirements is abhorrent and unacceptable.

I blame the administration as much as I blame the athletes. This is a graphic play and a graphic production. People need to have an idea of what they are getting themselves into.

In no way do I condone this behavior but you need to have a conversation with these athletes when they set foot on any campus as to what is expected from them as representatives of the university.

This is why the work of Athlete Ally and groups like the Gay Straight Alliance, which serves as a bridge for gay and straight students in high school to form an alliance of inclusivity and nondiscriminatory behavior is so important.

Unfortunately everyone was not raised with the morality and values to treat all people equally.

A representative of the Ole Miss athletes allegedly apologized - after being prompted by a member of the school's academic staff - but many didn't quite understand what they were apologizing for. [...]

So before Ole Miss is quick to hand down punishment I would like to see them take a more holistic and proactive approach in educating students and student athletes alike. All you have to do is reach out and I will be happy to discuss how I can help you take the next step."

You can read the full letter HERE.

Mississippi Football Players Disrupt College Play about Matthew Shepard

A University of Mississippi professor says that a group of Ole Miss students, including football players, disrupted a production of a campus play with "hate speech" on Tuesday night.

Michael Barnett, the assistant theatre chair, said that several students in the play told him that audience members were disruptive and used "derogatory terms" for homosexuals during a production of "The Laramie Project" on campus.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze confirmed to The Associated Press Thursday that football players were in the crowd. Barnett says a group of football players apologized after the play.

"Several of the students said they did not feel the apology was genuine," Barnett said. "They seemed to feel that (the football players) didn’t realize what it was that they were apologizing for." Full story here!

The Growing Push For Marriage Equality In Mississippi

Earlier this year, we reported on five gay couples who were denied marriage licenses in Mississippi as part of a demonstration by the Campaign for Southern Equality's "We Do" campaign. Since that time, the group has been organizing an expansive road trip across the Deep South to speak out for equality. This week, the group is back in the state many consider the most openly hostile to LGBT Americans.

From The Advocate:

But why Mississippi, a state where the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was approved by a staggering 86% of voters in 2004? Why choose Mississippi, where The New York Times estimated that support for marriage equality by 2016 will be just 31.5%, the lowest in the nation?

"Sometimes, when you're looking at bigotry and discrimination, you have to scratch the surface a little bit, and shine some light on it - the way you do an infection - let it breath, to cure it," said the Revered Jasmine Beach Ferrarra, the Campaign for Southern Equality's executive director, in a new video that deftly answers that very question.

Then there's the fact that more than a quarter of same-sex couples living in Mississippi are raising children, the group discovered. That's the highest percentage of LGBT parents in any state in the union.

Ferrarra says that when touring southern states, many people ask her: "Why don't you just move to New York or Iowa?" Her response is that "the solution to the discrimination we face is not to move." With the Campaign for Southern Equality, she hopes that people will learn to stay, stand up, and fight the battle directly.

ACLU today filed suits in Virginia,  Pennsylvania and North Carolina challenging same-sex marriage bans.