When Nikki and Thomas Araguz were married in Texas in 2008, she had been married and divorced once before, and she had legal documentation identifying herself as a woman. Although Nikki, born biologically male, didn’t have her gender transition surgery until a few months after the ceremony, she had no reason to think their marriage wasn’t legal. In 2010, Thomas, a firefighter, died while battling a blaze. When Nikki tried to claim her share of his death benefits, a judge ruled their marriage invalid. Though laws governing the marriage of trans men and women who’ve undergone gender-reassignment surgery vary from state to state, the ruling, now on appeal, is a rare instance of a transgender person’s marriage being voided.
“In the vast majority of cases [involving marriages of transgender people], nobody has any problem,” says Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who has handled many marriage-related cases. “Nobody even questions the validity of the marriage. Now there have been a handful of cases in very conservative states that have come out badly.”
The reason? “Courts in these states have been so homophobic,” says Minter. “They don’t want to even come close to recognizing a same-sex marriage.”
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