Dozens of individuals and organizations meeting at the Second Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in Houston issued a joint statement Thursday on the Nikki Araguz case. In case you missed it, Araguz is the transgender widow of firefighter Thomas Araguz III, who died in the line of duty earlier this month. Thomas Araguz’s is family is suing Nikki Araguz in an effort to prevent her from receiving death benefits, alleging that the marriage was invalid. Below is the full text of the statement. For a list of signatories, go here.
HOUSTON, Texas (July 22, 2010) — We, the attendees of the Second Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, issue this statement to demonstrate our support for Mrs. Nikki Araguz and to call attention to her plight and that of all transgender people in the state of Texas.
Mrs. Nikki Araguz legally married a man, and her marriage has been recognized under the laws of the state of Texas. Nikki’s husband, a fireman in Wharton County, tragically was killed in the line of duty, and now other parties are attempting to use the courts to have her marriage legally overturned in an effort to deny her inheritance and insurance.
These parties are claiming that Nikki is not legally a woman under Texas law. Nikki’s opponents are attempting to use an obscure Texas case, Littleton v. Prange (1999), to declare that her marriage should be invalid. The Littleton case says that a person’s gender is determined by chromosomes, not physical attributes. The Littleton case was decided to deny a transgender woman her right to bring a wrongful death suit on behalf of her husband — even though Littleton had legally changed her gender and had been legally married in Texas.
The Littleton case was wrongfully decided at the time, and if taken literally stands for the proposition that a transgender person cannot marry anyone, of either gender, under Texas law. Clearly, this is wrong. Denying anyone the right to marry whom they love is a violation of the most basic freedoms under our laws. To deny the validity of an existing, legal marriage, after one of the spouses has died, as justification for the redistribution of inheritance and insurance, is abhorrent to the values of common decency, fair play, and justice that most Texans hold dear.
We, the attendees of this Summit, extend our heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Araguz, and call for the swift dismissal of this lawsuit so that Mrs. Araguz may be left to mourn her loss in private without distraction or worry for her financial stability.
If necessary, we also call for the courts to consider the Littleton case superseded by the recent changes to the Texas Family Code that recognize a court ordered gender change as definitive proof of identity.
Sadly, discrimination against people because of either their gender identity or expression is common. There are few laws in the state of Texas to address this need. The purpose of our Summit is to find ways to help people confront and overcome the issues now facing all transgender people in Texas and, tragically, Mrs. Nikki Araguz.
My heart goes out to this woman. She had the courage to live her life the way she felt it was meant to be. Please let those of us who want to help know how we may do so.
Stay strong Nikki and know you are not alone.
How sad that the mother and ex-wife have chosen to sue in court while the grief of Nikki Araguz is so fresh and must be almost unbearable. The mother of firefighter Thomas Araguz III has chosen to disregard her son’s right to marry so she drags his widow through the dirt after her son is no longer here to prevent the case from becoming a media circus. As far as his ex-wife, any rights she may have had were terminated when their divorce was final so it is obvious she’s just after money and I hope she doesn’t get a cent. I pray for the Texas Courts uphold the law to recognize Nikki Araguz as a legally married woman whose husband died under tragic circumstances.
I want to say that I have a sister who was born of the same “third eye” as she stated in her interview on 20/20, I am proud that she is taking a stand for her life and has become a beautiful person, I believe that no man lies with another person and not know what sex they are ~ Not only to tell his family that you were going through an hysterectomy, and I wonder after going through what they thought the procedure was did they come to your bed side, where they loving and caring to you. I am surprised that Nikki after you had your sex reassignment at that point you were not guided to have your birth certificate changed as well. There are many transgender people out there that will contest, stand by your side, share experiences of the ignorance, a state of mind ~ I was heartbroken for as I listened to you story, heard you come from the down falls that fell in your way and finally when you hit bottom you found God. He will give you the strength to except what will be set in front of you ~ I will forward this article to my sister and maybe she will have a few words of wisdom to give you hope.