Creative Commons/Martin Lewison

Craig Person and Edmund Yang were photographed riding the Psycho Mouse roller coaster at Great America

Two San Jose men filed a lawsuit against the Great America amusement park Monday in response to a 2008 incident in which they found a photo of them holding hands on a roller coaster had been doctored with a gay slur.

According to the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the two men, Craig Person and Edmund Yang, had just exited the Psycho Mouse roller coaster when they first saw the photograph, which was offered on a computer screen as a souvenir. At that point the photo was unaltered.

Later, Person and Yang's friends found a printed photo on display at another ride, which was digitally altered with a caption over their heads that said, "Were (sic) fags."

Their friends removed the photo, but employees refused to tell them who had altered the photo, according to court documents. Their friends showed Person, who complained at guest services, but did not tell Yang until later that evening, as he did not publicly identify as gay at the time.

Attorney Elisa Stewart, who is representing Person and Yang in the lawsuit, said the two men were seeking more than a ticket refund, and wanted concrete policy changes by the park and better training to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.

She said Great America later stopped communicating with Person and Yang, prompting them to file the lawsuit.

Jim Stellmack, a spokesman for Great America, said the park did not condone the actions of the park employees that day, and that appropriate action was taken. He said he could not clarify what actions were taken because of confidentiality for park employees.

"We did make attempts to reach out and resolve the situation. Obviously those attempts were unsuccessful as it resulted in a lawsuit," Stellmack said.