On Sunday, Rechteger-Farmer’s longtime partner, Paula Farmer, died of complications from liver disease, which had plagued her for years. The next morning, Rechteger-Farmer says she had her body transported to La Paloma Funeral Services, near Stephanie Street and Boulder Highway, for cremation.

Rechteger-Farmer says the staff at the funeral home seemed happy to take her money, and just as happy, allegedly, to give her a lecture on how her same-sex lifestyle is a sin in God’s eyes. Rechteger-Farmer says staff there also refused to put “married” on Farmer’s death certificate. She says she and Farmer wed legally in California in 2008, during a brief time before Proposition 8, which outlawed the practice, took effect. Because Nevada doesn’t recognize gay marriage, the staff there told her their hands were tied, alleges Rechteger-Farmer.

“I couldn’t believe it,” says Rechteger-Farmer. “This was the love of my life, and they were treating us this way?”

Rechteger-Farmer says she left after having an argument with the La Paloma staff and had her partner’s body transferred to another funeral home, Kraft-Sussman, who handled the cremation a couple of days later. She hasn’t received even a partial refund of the more than $900 she says she paid La Paloma.

The story could end there, but Rechteger-Farmer has lawyered up and says she wants her money back — and to put La Paloma out of business.

“How dare they treat us like this,” she demands. “We have just as much right as any other couple to be treated with dignity and respect.”

La Paloma co-owner Ryan Bowen says Rechteger-Farmer is lying. His funeral home has handled funeral arrangements for maybe 100 same-sex couples in the five years it’s been in business, he says. He insists neither he nor his staff would dream of treating a client that way.

“Those allegations are false,” he says. “I can tell you they were treated with the utmost respect … there was no discrimination.”

Bowen, an engaging, articulate man, says his staff is unable to list Farmer as married because state law doesn’t yet recognize same-sex marriages (domestic partnerships here are recognized in Nevada, however). “Those are [the] rules, and we follow [the] rules,” he says. “But we have no policy against same-sex couples … we treat them with the utmost respect.

Rechteger-Farmer’s lawyer, John Cereso, alleges Bowen, a Mormon, allowed some of his staff to confuse their belief system with the law, which doesn’t gaze kindly on unsolicited sermons imposed on vulnerable customers or on same-sex discrimination. “No one there said they didn’t realize they were a lesbian couple when they took the body,” he says. “It was as if they took the money and said, ‘By the way, you’re immoral.’”

Bowen says at no time does religion intrude into his commitment to provide his customers with the best care possible. He says Rechteger-Farmer never quarreled with anyone on his staff. “It was a congenial meeting,” he says. “These are totally lies. She is totally lying.”

But Rechteger-Farmer insists her story is true. Why on Earth, she asks, would she make up a story like this. She says she doesn’t want to sue La Paloma for any additional money — just a refund of what she says she’s entitled to. “They told me, ‘God thinks men and women together are normal, not you.’ I said, ‘We’re just as normal as you.’”

She does, however, want to shame La Paloma for allegedly treating her so badly. “I’m very upset. This was a marriage. Paula had a good soul, and we loved each other. She was the love of my life. How can I not be angry at how they treated us?”