by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

A Transgender widow may lose her home, bank accounts, and her late husband's death benefits if a lawsuit filed in Wharton County, Texas, is successful.

Nikki Araguz was the wife of Thomas Araguz III, a captain in the Wharton County Volunteer Fire Department. He died July 3 fighting a fire at a county historical site.

Since he was a fire captain killed in the line of duty, his death benefits will be substantial.

Thomas Araguz had been married to Heather Delgado and had two children with her before they divorced in 2008. He married Nikki Araguz later that year.

Nikki owned Wharton County Living magazine. She ran - unsuccessfully - for mayor of Wharton while married to Thomas.

Those are the only facts all sides in the dispute agree on.

Nikki is now being sued by Thomas's mother and ex-wife, who seek to exclude her from the couple's property and her late husband's death benefits.

According to Chad Ellis, attorney for Thomas's mother, Simona Longoria, Thomas separated from Nikki about two months before his death, after learning that she had been born male.

"He was distraught. It was extremely difficult and embarrassing for Tommy," Ellis said.

He added that Thomas died without leaving a will.

According to Ellis's version of events, Thomas learned during a custody dispute with his ex-wife last spring that Nikki was allegedly born as Justin Graham Purdue.

Ellis said he was unsure when Nikki may have undergone a sex reassignment surgery, but the lawsuit claims she changed her name to Nikki Paige Purdue in 1996.

The lawsuit, which will begin July 23 in Wharton County District Court, depends on 1999 state case law prohibiting same-sex marriage and stating that a person's gender always remains the same as it was at birth.

"We are not blazing new legal ground here," Ellis said.

Nikki has been ordered by the Texas court not to remove any property from her home, withdraw funds from any bank account, or receive any death benefits.

Nikki Araguz has insisted that her husband knew everything about her personal life when they married in August 2008. She also said the couple had not separated prior to her husband's death.

"We had a completely honest marriage, a 100-percent loving, honest marriage," she said. "I am grieving the loss of my husband and best friend."

After initially declining to discuss her gender history, Nikki granted a 16-minute video interview to a local TV station. In the emotional interview, she revealed that her sex reassignment surgery took place after she married Thomas.

"I had the operation two months after our marriage, and my husband was fully aware, and the birth defect that I had essentially was not a problem to my husband," she said. "He was proud to be my husband as much as I was proud to be his wife."

Pressed by the reporter about whether she was born male, Nikki answered "I do not and have not ever considered myself in that way, but I understand that some people are explaining it like that. And what I'd like to say is that essentially I had a disorder much like anyone else who was born with a birth defect of any kind - no arm, six toes, no vision, OK? There was an anatomical birth defect that was underdeveloped beyond the age of 2 years old."

Nikki concluded the interview pledging to fight her in-laws' effort to deny her death benefits, because she says that's what her late husband would have wanted.

"I'm deeply, deeply devastated by the loss of my husband," she said. "I have not even had the opportunity to grieve, and I'm having to deal with this awful, awful situation. I love you, my sweet husband, may you rest in peace."

Texas state law is complicated when issues of gender identification and marriage intersect.

Earlier this year, a Lesbian couple was legally married in Texas because one of the couple was born male, and later had sex reassignment surgery.

According to a Texas appeals court ruling in Littleton v. Prange, the sex specified on an individual's birth certificate is determinative.

In that 1999 case, a Texas appeals court refused to recognize a marriage between a man and a male-to-female Transsexual because her birth certificate identified her as male.

In 2009, however, the Texas state legislature changed the state's family code to permit an applicant for a marriage license to use a court order to nullify the sex specified on the birth certificate.

The new law also allows a driver's license to serve as proof of identity and age.

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