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ruling that gender is determined at birth and cannot be changed—even
with surgical procedures.
Firefighter Thomas Araguz died
tragically last July while fighting a fire. He was married to Nikki
Araguz, who was born as a man. The deceased’s mother, Simona Longoria, filed
suit to have the marriage declared void so that Thomas’ estate would
be split between his two children from another marriage.
“A person’s sex is a biological
fact, not a state of mind, and altering one’s outer appearance
doesn’t change that,” says Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal
counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund—which helped fund the case
“The court was right to uphold marriage by affirming the reality
that a person’s sex cannot be changed.”
District Court of Wharton County Judge
Randy Clapp ruled their marriage invalid because the state of Texas
does not recognize same-sex marriages. The state has concluded the
widow’s gender using chromosomes and is not considering the sex
change operation a factor.
“The district court adopted the
position which was wisely written and handed down by the Texas Court
of Appeals,” lead counsel Chad Ellis says. “In answering the
question, ‘can a physician change the gender of a person with a
scalpel, drugs and counseling, or is a person’s gender immutably
fixed by our Creator at birth?’ the appeals court determined that
gender is fixed, saying, ‘There are some things we cannot will into
being. They just are.’”
The couple filed for a marriage license
in August 2008 and Nikki—born Justin Purdue—had surgery to remove
male genitalia a few weeks later.
Longoria insists her son did not know
about his wife’s sex change and that she only found out two months
before his tragic death. Araguz, who started taking female hormones
at 18, claims that her husband was aware and very supportive.
According to chron.com, the widow plans to appeal the case.
“Both myself and my family are
grateful for the outpouring of understanding, kindness, sympathy and
support over the past year,” Araguz said in a statement. “I am
totally devastated by the court ruling. At this time I have no
comment for the media, but will be issuing a statement shortly after
I consider my options.”
