Wife's Secret Shocks Town: She Was Born He
Blazing Fire Takes Fireman's Life, Ignites Scorching Legal Battle Between His Family and Widow
By SEAN DOOLEY
Oct. 21, 2010
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/transgender-widow-sued-husbands-family-benefits/story?id=11927705# (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/transgender-widow-sued-husbands-family-benefits/story?id=11927705#)
Nikki Araguz said she finally found happiness -- just as it was ripped up from underneath her.
After a difficult youth and rocky first marriage that ended in divorce, in 2007, she met a volunteer firefighter named Thomas Araguz in the tiny town of Wharton, Texas, quickly fell in love and got married.
She relished her role as a stepmom to her husband's two young sons, over whom he had joint custody. She had just launched her own magazine in Wharton and encouraged her husband to go back to school and pursue his dream of becoming a police officer. Then, tragedy struck.
This has been in the papers for a while.
The thing is, because the law in Texas has become so very convoluted under a nullification of one particular transwoman's marriage, lesbian couples in which one partner is a transwoman have been quietly getting marriage licenses in San Antonio. Don't think there's been any gay male couples in which one is a transman...but those couples who are doing it, aren't really talking about it, because if it's talked about too much, some wingnut will go on a crusade to stop it.
(Yep, lesbians getting married in Texas. You'd think hell froze over. >:-))
A reversal of the earlier decision might nullify their marriages in the eyes of the law, although you'd need a futher decision to actually make that so....otherwise, those licenses might stand...
...AND this is why any two consenting adults should be able to marry each other: once you start disqualifying a marriage on the basis of gender, things get hairy really fast, don't they?
Cispeople who aren't familiar with transpeople are often genderly-clueless, no?
Oh, and something else: Nikki Araguz was outed during her run for mayor in Wharton by the same lawyer who is now representing her husband's first wife...who is now also being investigated for that, because when he did so he revealed privileged information-you see, Nikki was his client at one point....
The linked article has the details, but also some dirty words, sorry about that.
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/07/ex-wifes_lawyer_investigated.php (http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/07/ex-wifes_lawyer_investigated.php)
Quote from: rite_of_inversion on October 21, 2010, 08:56:57 PM
lesbian couples in which one partner is a transwoman have been quietly getting marriage licenses in San Antonio.
Speaking as an outside observer, this reinforces the perspective I'd already formed.
Namely, that this entire case is just a piece of vindictiveness by her husband's ex wife and mother. The publicity seems entirely vitriolic. The gains, once all the legal costs have been met, would appear to be almost nothing, whatever the outcome.
In another thread there was mention about the discovery phase. I checked this up. It seems this is a classic tactic (uniquely American, it seems), to drive up costs and force defendants into backing down.
The problem is that the whole thing has become a cause célèbre.
The plaintiffs seem to be supported by those who want to attack anyone who isn't the same as them. The defendants are defending the rights of individuals to express themselves.
If the plaintiffs win, the long term effects on all of us will be disasterous.