In 2010, Nikki Araguz Loyd campaigned for mayor in Wharton County, Texas. Her campaign became fraught by scandal when (as she mentions in her blog) her previous lawyer, Attorney Frank Mann, circulated emails containing her medical records. These revealed that she is a transgendered woman who is also HIV positive. Shortly after that, Loyd was further devastated when her husband, Capt. Thomas Araguz, died while fighting a fire.
The day after her husband’s funeral, Loyd was summoned to court by Capt. Araguz’s mother and his first wife, who challenged Ms. Loyd’s and Capt. Araguz’s marriage and sued her for his fire-fighter’s death benefits. In 2011, Judge Clapp (who hurtfully refered to Ms. Loyd as a man) ruled against her, using a precedent Littleton v. Prange (which has since been ruled invalid). This ruling voided the marriage of two years, all without a proper hearing.
Every year, The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), which supports the family members of those killed in the line of duty, holds a memorial for each firefighter who died in action during the previous year. This event, dubbed the Survivor Conference, welcomes each honoree’s nearest living relative to receive a flag and a badge with the fallen member’s name on it. In 2011, Loyd was invited by the NFFF, to attend this annual event. There, she met other wives going through the same traumatic experience who accepted her and helped her through her grief.
When it came time for Capt. Araguz to be honored, Ms. Loyd was not called to the stage. The chief executive of the organization explained to Loyd that because her marriage was voided, and due to the threatening lawyers who would sue the organization, she would not be able to receive the items honoring her late husband. However, the chief promised Loyd that he would make it up to her, and remember that her marriage mattered. After five years, the chief was able to act on his promise, after Loyd won a court appeal. The case had reached the 13th Texas Court of Appeals, which ruled in Loyd’s favor in September of this year, ordering Judge Clapp to revise his previous ruling on the marriage. The chief invited Loyd to the memorial weekend in Emmetsburg, Maryland and properly honored her as the wife of her husband. To her surprise, President Obama presented the award himself.
Ms. Loyd has remarried, and she and her current husband, William Loyd, have begun a family. She has started her own reality show on YouTube. But her case has returned to Judge Clapp. The 13th Texas Court of Appeals order to revise his previous ruling arrived on his desk on Monday, November 2, 2015. However, the waiting continues. There has been no word if Judge Clapp has followed the court’s orders. As Loyd mentions in a Huston interview, she is afraid he will “position himself as an anti-marriage-equality judge” and follow in the footsteps of Kim Davis. Ms. Loyd’s six year battle isn’t over yet – not until Judge Clapp signs the court order.
