Nikki Araguz
Your weekday morning blend from Instant Tea:
1. CNN reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry may not even speak at his own day of prayer on Aug. 6 in Houston. Eric Bearse, a spokesman for the American Family Association, the anti-gay hate group that is funding Perry’s day of prayer, told CNN: “There will be a handful of speakers, in addition to a number of folks leading prayer, plus some time for praise and worship music. … Whether the governor will speak has not yet been decided at this point.” Seems like this could be another example of Perry trying to tone down the religious rhetoric and distance himself from the whackos who’ve endorsed the event.
2. Texas transgender widow Nikki Araguz has appealed a district judge’s ruling denying her death benefits to the 13th Circuit Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi. Araguz also announced that if she wins the case, she’ll deposit the death benefits into a trust fund for her deceased husband’s two children. “I am pursuing this appeal to defend my marriage, not to obtain any financial benefit,” said Araguz. Read the full press release here.
3. A group led by anti-gay El Paso pastor Tom Brown this week filed notice of its intent to recall the mayor and two council members after they voted to reinstate domestic partner benefits for city employees. The group now has 60 days to collect enough signatures — 6,100 for the mayor and 650 each for the two council members — to trigger a recall election. If they are succesful, the recall election would cost the city $150,000, in addition to the cost of holding another election to replace the three if they are recalled.
y’alls writing is wrong the press release for ms Araguze it says NET benefits. i understand that means once her attorneys take their money first so it wont be in the 100000s but the 1000s if any at all
At what point in time will the media finally pay attention to the fact that Ms. Araguz DOES NOT identify as ‘transgender.’ My god, even the press release identifies her as ‘transsexual.’ It really is sad when the media FAILS MISERABLY to abide by the wishes of the very person being written about…
@ann: I spoke with Nikki about this a few weeks ago, and she said although she considers herself transsexual or intersex, she is comfortable being identified as transgender. Thanks.