Courting Nikki

She's been with the ancestors for the last seven months and her 44 year life was way too short for all of us who loved her, but Nikki Araguz Loyd will never be forgotten by me or anyone in our community.

She will also not be forgotten for her ginormous contribution to trans rights for us trans Texans.  It was her tenacious and ultimately successful six year legal fight in the Delgado v Araguz case that secured marriage rights for us here in the Lone Star State.

Courting Nikki is a short documentary by Cressandra Thibodeaux that follows Nikki through this case.  It also brought back some memories for me of that time and the amazing complex woman I was blessed  to call my friend.

This documentary video was shown at Nikki's memorial service

Remembering The Harris County Impact Of The Obergefell SCOTUS Ruling

One year ago the landmark Obergefell v Hodges case ruling was issued by the Supreme Court that made marriage equality legal in all 50 states despite the best efforts of right wing haters to enact marriage bans in many state constitutions.

It was a amazing day last year watching that history unfold as Nikki Araguz Loyd, Will Loyd, Ashton Woods, Brandon Mack, Ray Hill, Alene Levy and I sat in the office of attorney John Nechman and Mitchell Katine munching on Shipley's donuts, kolaches and sipping orange juice while await the landmark ruling that was about to drop at 9 AM our time.

When it did, I remember John looking stunned for a moment, and a wide smile subsequently breaking over his face as he announced to us that the SCOTUS had sided with Obergefell.

Since the Araguz v Delgado trans marriage case was at the Texas Supreme Court level at the time, Nikki asked what that meant for her case, and was told that it meant that she was going to win it since the opposition had based their entire case on being a replay of Littleton v Prange.

That's when I realized that the Obergefell ruling was also going to positively affect the ability of trans people to get married.   I heard a few hours later about other cis-trans couples also getting married either on that day or getting their licenses so they could do so later.

After celebrating at Nechman's office, Nikki, Will and I decided to head over to the Harris County Courthouse to see if our Republican county clerk Stan Stanart was going to  let the marriages happen or would they would try some last ditch massive resistance to delay things.


Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) was already trying to lay the groundwork for him and other oppressive county clerks to do just that.  As we arrived at the Harris County Courthouse at 12:30 PM there were already six people in line waiting to get their marriage licenses and get married.

As Nikki and Will got in line to get their marriage license, I kicked into reporter mode and started tweeting and posting Facebook statuses on the drama that was beginning to unfold at the Harris County Courthouse as Stanart tried stalling tactic after stalling tactic designed to not issue marriage licenses to same gender couples.

The legal hammers started coming down around 1 PM from Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan (D) and one representing a couple who was at the head of the line waiting to get their license.

As we watched and waited for that legal drama to play out, Judge Kyle Carter (D) announced to the folks waiting in line that he would waive the usual 72 hour waiting period and marry coupes in his chambers.

At 2 PM Stanart capitulated and started issuing marriage licenses to the growing line of couples, and Nikki and Will got their license and renewed their vows in Judge Carter's chambers    I also got to witness a few friends in the community like Daniel Williams and his spouse Jason do the same thing before departing for home.

That June 26 day was not only one for the history books, it was one in which I found myself in the interesting position of being able to watch how it unfolded in Harris County.

Ir's Laila and Logan's Wedding Day!

The Trans Obamas, AKA Precious Davis and Myles Brady aren't the only trans couple getting married this year that I have mad love and admiration for.

Had the opportunity to get connected with online with both Laila Villanueva and Logan Ireland, who are two of the over 15,500 estimated trans people serving in the US Armed Forces.

Well, found out that Laila and Logan are getting married in Hawaii today, and how apropos it's happening on IDAHOT Day!  Logan and Laila have been two of the emerging leaders and faces in the drive for open trans military service, and just last week Laila was honored with the AMPA Military Spouses Leadership Award.

They both received the honor of meeting the Commander-in-Chief during the White House LGBT Pride Reception last year.

Today is another huge step in their lives as they pledge their love for each other in front of God, their families and friends in Hawaii.

Congratulations to both of you!.  May your wedding day be filled with abundant blessings, and your marriage be a long one filled with a lifetime of love, friendship, adventure and happiness

Congrats Laila and Logan!  So looking forward to meeting both of you amazing people

Joanne Cassar Gets Married In Malta!

The landmark Araguz v. Delgado marriage case here in Texas has finally been resolved, but one of the cases I was watching in Malta that involved trans woman Joanne Cassar was settled after an 8 year battle that took it on the verge of being heard by the European Court of Human Rights and it becoming an issue in a 2013 Maltese national election that resulted in the ruling party getting swept out of power.

After her successful nearly eight year battle in which the Maltese government fighting her was ousted at the polls and the new one settled the case, Joanne Cassar could finally exhale.

She also got to watch as a nondisclosed Maltese trans woman followed the trail Cassar blazed and made history to became the first to get married in their island nation.

So what has happened since Cassar won her long marriage fight?  She finally got the opportunity to walk down the aisle and say 'I do" to her new husband on March 31

Cassar got married to her husband Kurstin on that date, and as you probably guessed she was thrilled that the day she'd fought so hard to make happen is finally a reality.

Say hello to Mrs. Joanne Sciberras Edwards, and hope that she and her hubby have a long, happy and healthy marriage.

Carmen And Adrian Get Married!

The VH-1 series Couples Therapy has featured Carmen Carrera and her longtime fiance Adrian Torres working out their relationship issues on this season of the show as she drops some knowledge on trans issues at the same time with the other peeps participating in this year's edition of it.

In a year in which we have seen a fictional trans person in Maya Avant get married to the love of her life on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful,  watched Nikki Araguz Loyd win her protracted multiyearTexas legal battle to validate her marriage and take down the odious Littleton v Prange case at the same time, see Janet Mock marry her fiance Aaron Treadwell in her home state, and follow Precious Davis and Myles Brady as they prepare for their own wedding next year, it was nice to see this happen for Carmen and Adrian







Congrats Carmen and Adrian!   may you ave a long healthy and happy marriage.

After Six Years, Nikki Wins!

After six long years, the unjust ruling of GOP judge Randy Clapp has been remanded and Nikki Araguz Loyd has finally won her landmark Araguz v Delgado marriage case!

She and her hubby William Loyd traveled the 90 miles from H-town to the Wharton County courthouse to pick up the court order at 1;30 PM CST.   It was also apropos that it was karmically happening on TDOR.

Nikki's major concern before her arrival in Wharton was whether Judge Clapp would sign it.  But after she arrived at the courthouse, she happily discovered that the final order had been autographed by him and was ready for pickup.

Congrats Nikki on this one huge step for you, but one gigantic legal leap for transkind and the marriage rights of all trans people in Texas!

Alysia Yeoh Gets Married!

Many of you comic book fans are aware that the rebooted DC Comics Batgirl series has a reality based trans character in the person of Alysia Yeoh, the bi community activist and onetime roommate of Barbara Gordon.  

She revealed to Barbara in issue #19 she was a girl like us at the same moment Barbara told her much of her personal background including the fact she was Batgirl to her roommate from Singapore.

She has been a recurring character since then

The marriage story arc for Alysia started with issue #42 in the rebooted series in which she announced to Barbara that she was engaged to Jo, who she started dating last year and Barbara would be her maid of honor.

We're now up to issue #45 in this story arc which is available at your fave comic book retailer, and another milestone as Alysia finally walks down the aisle with Jo as Barbara efficiently executes her duties as maid of honor.

This is just another example of our media being ahead of and driving the social acceptance curve.  It's also important because popular culture can drive acceptance of marginalized groups.

It will be interesting to see what happens going forward not only for the happy couple, but for their maid of honor Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl,

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Congrats Aaron and Janet!

You know I have much love for Janet Mock, and have been ride or die for her ever since she came out as a girl like us. and I had the pleasure of meeting her in August 2012 and calling her a friend..  

I have yet to meet Aaron but hopeful that will happen soon.

I was happy to hear that Janet and Aaron finally jumped the broom into the land of matrimony in her birth state of Hawaii on November 5 and talked about her big day in this Brides.com essay.

While yours truly can do many things well, being in a committed relationship has been the one thing that has eluded me, and I am happy for those of you that has happened for.

Congrats Aaron and Janet on your big day, and may you have a long, happy and healthy marriage.

Nikki's Trans Marriage End Game In Sight

Ever since the story broke back in 2010 that the widow of fallen firefighter Thomas Araguz III was a girl like us, I've been following it as the mother and ex-wife of Araguz tried to use the odious Littleton v Prange case as a way to do a money grab and stick it to Nikki at the same time.

Unfortunately in their zeal to hate on her, the ripple effect consequences were that the ability of Texas trans people to get married in the Lone Star State and have it recognized by the state were placed in jeopardy and riding on the results of this high stakes Araguz vs Delgado case.

I say high stakes because no matter which way it went, it would either set a precedent that would advance the human rights of Texas trans people or set them back.

Along the way, I've gotten to know her after our first meeting back in August 2010, and have admired her for sticking up for herself and her human rights.

After six years, a court loss at the district court level, getting remarried and two legal wins at the appeals court and Texas Supreme Court level combined with the Obergefell SCOTUS marriage ruling that made the issues Delgado sued on moot,

On Friday the 13th Texas Court of Appeals affirmed their 2014 ruling that reversed the one invalidating her marriage of Judge Randy Clapp in Wharton and sent it with a mandate back to his court,

"It's the most beautiful twist of karma. The judge to so viciously ruled against me now has to reverse his own ruling," said Araguz Loyd in an interview Monday. "It's never been about money. It was not about money when I married my husband. It certainly was not about money when I buried him."

Now it's just a matter of Nikki waiting for the final legal acts to play out in this long delayed and hard fought win for not only her, but all Texas trans people.

Nikki's Interesting DC Weekend

Nikki Araguz Loyd is the other H-town based trans woman who has flown more air miles than the Air Marshal this year,.   This time she and her hubby Will caught a flight to Washington DC for the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation memorial service in which her late husband Capt. Thomas Araguz III was being honored.

And this time she would be presented a flag in his honor by President Obama himself.

This is the 34th anniversary edition of the NFFF memorial event, and it is a weekend long one in which firefighters who died in the line of duty the previous year across the US are recognized.   This year 87 fallen firefighters were recognized, and one of the three from Texas recognized this year was Capt. Araguz.

It was also an emotional one for Nikki as well

Nikki, as his widow, would not only be recognized as such, but would be receiving the congressional flag flown over the US Capitol building in his honor  

And getting to meet the best president ever on trans issues on top of that is a bonus.

It has been a tough, nearly six year legal battle to have her marriage to Thomas recognized, and that day thanks to he Oberkfell SCOTUS ruling may be very close at hand. 

The SCOTX is poised to send her case back down to the appellate and district court level for the vindication that she has fought so long for. and in the process eviscerate the odious Littleton v Prange case create a legal precedent that affirmatively recognizes a Texas trans person's ability to get legally married.

Nikki Araguz Loyd Gets Another Legal Win At SCOTX!

It's another great day for Nikki Araguz Loyd in a Texas courtroom as the Texas Supreme Court in Austin ruled in her favor in her ongoing case to reinstate her marriage to her late husband Thomas Araguz III.

In the last update, she had a big win at the Texas 13th Appeal Court level in Corpus Christi that not only reversed Judge Randy Clapp's (R) unjust order that invalidated her marriage, but struck a what may be fatal blow to the Littleton v Prange case.

It also sent the case back to Judge Clapp's court where we hope the arc of the moral and legal universe will continue bending toward justice for her and the Texas trans community.

The case was appealed to the all GOP dominated Texas Supreme Court by the Delgado legal team, and in a ruling that came back today that was a wonderful surprise for her and the Texas trans community , the SCOTX without comment denied hearing their petition.

Translation, the ruling of the Texas 13th Court of Appeals stands.

Of course, when I talked to an obviously happy Nikki Araguz Loyd about her latest legal win, she said, "I'm elated that the Texas Supreme Court saw fit to do the right thing in my case.   It gets us past another major  hurdle and one step closer to the Lone Star State recognizing the transitioned gender identity of trans people."

I hope and pray that is the case as well.

Maya and Rick's Bold And Beautiful Wedding

While I was working on escaping from Casa de Slumlord, I didn't have cable during that time period, and I missed some of the groundbreaking episodes in the Rick and Maya trans story line on the Bold and the Beautiful leading up to their wedding.

While that was going on, Maya was trying to repair the relationship between herself and her father Julius Avant that had become contentious between them when she transitioned in her teen years .

First her younger sister Nicole, and now her mother Vivienne relationships with Maya have been improving to the point that Nicole accepts and loves her unconditionally as her big sister, and the relationship between her and her mother Vivienne was improving during that time period she was visiting her in LA.

But Julius is still transphobically unrepentant concerning his feelings for Maya, she overheard him during the run up to the wedding, and it came to a head as Maya was about to get married to Rick Forrester

This is a groundbreaking story line that not only features a major character who is trans, but that character also happens to be African-American.

This wedding may also be the first for a soap opera in terms of it involving a trans feminine character marrying a cisgender male.

It has also been groundbreaking (and emotional at times for me) to see how the issues surrounding Maya's transition have played out in an African-American family


Well, speaking of those episodes, here they are for your perusal TransGriot readers.

Nikki Wins Trans Marriage Appeal Case!

I've been asking the question ever since she made the trip to Corpus Christi in September if Nikki Araguz Loyd would become the third transperson internationally to get a favorable trans marriage ruling, and fittingly we got our answer just before Valentine's Day.

Texas 13th Court of Appeals Chief Justice Rogelio Valdez  today issued a landmark opinion that reversed Judge Randy Clapp's (R) odious 2011 ruling invalidating Nikki's marriage to her late husband Thomas Araguz III.

Clapp ruled that Araguz was born male and Texas’ 2005 marriage amendment doesn’t recognize her marriage to a man, thus invalidating her 2008 marriage to Araguz.

Araguz was a volunteer firefighter in Wharton, TX killed in the line of duty in 2010 and Nikki Araguz was denied his death benefits as a result of that ruling that Clapp cited the 1999 Littleton v. Prange case as his rationale for.   

During the Texas Legislature's 2009 session, it passed a law adding documentation proving gender surgery to the acceptable list of documents people can present to get a Texas marriage license.   That statute is what Nikki's legal team based their appeal on.

So what's the bottom line?  In addition to this being huge news for the Texas trans community, it also goes back to Judge Clapp's court.    

Houston attorney Kent Rutter, the lead attorney for the appeal, said Thursday’s ruling marked the first time that a court in Texas recognized that trans people have the right to marry. “What the decision today says is Texas law now recognizes that an individual who has had a sex change is eligible to marry a person of the opposite sex,” he said. “I think it’s a significant victory for trans people in Texas.”

Nikki echoed the same sentiment in a euphoric phone conversation I had with her in the wake of the ruling that it was a significant win for the community.  "The ruling not only strikes a what I and my legal team hope is a fatal blow to Littleton v Prange, we hope it results in Texas recognizing the transitioned gender identity of trans people in the Lone Star State."

It's even more delicious that this ruling taking a bite out of the odious Littleton v Prange case happened the day before Valentine's Day.

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