Tonight on 20/20 we’re going to hear The Nikki Araguz Story. She’s the transgender widow of a fallen fireman, Thomas Araguz, who now finds herself battling against Thomas’ ex-wife Heather Delgado and his family for control of his estate and death benefits. The marriage is invalid, claims the ex, because Nikki was born a man — and supposedly tricked Thomas into marrying her. Bull, says Nikki. But also part of tonight’s story: How Nikki, born Justin Grahm Purdue, grew up knowing she wasn’t supposed to be a boy.
aftermath
The Bullying Trans Firefighter’s Widow Nikki Araguz Dealt With In Her Childhood Has Returned
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Alex
This segment has nothing to do with the actual problem. I’d love to see a transwomen get elected governor of some state. All the newspapers would have front page articles covering how she always felt like a woman on the inside with before and after pickz on A3!
Pome
Disappointing. No mention of the issues with Texas law and that Mann’s statement about it is incorrect. And was the $600,000 life insurance policy, and the ex-in-laws attempts to take it mentioned, or did I miss it?
The whole thing seemed, “so did he see your… you know… hee hee.” “did you ‘do it’?” “did it make him gay?” Ok, the last one didn’t come up, but I’m surprised about that.
It was also interesting trying to count the number of times the word “tricked” was used.
peteNsfo
The ‘teaser’ promos for the segment had confrontational interview moments, “DID YOU TRICK HIM?” etc. Because that’s the only rational way someone could actually care for a transgendered person, right?!
I know it’s TV, but Elizabeth Vargas is better than that.
I turned the station.
Sammy
I actually watched the entire segment last night and thought it was well handled. Sadly for the trans community, this woman has a pretty sketchy past that makes her less than credible. But overall I thought they treated her respectfully.
hmm
my heart went out to her, hearing about everything from the rape (and contracting of HIV) to her struggles with drug abuse and her unhealthy relationship that fueled said abuse.
it sounded to me like TX law SERIOUSLY needs to accept transgendered people as the gender THEY identify with, and not the gender assigned to them at birth.
it is so sad that this woman’s rights are being challenged simply b/c she is viewed by the state as a man & same-sex marriages are not recognized in the state (that’s ANOTHER thing that needs to change, naturally).
Penny Sautereau-Fife
I really hope you just copy/pasted info from ABC’s website for the blurb you posted here, because if you didn’t, fuck you for being yet another stuck-up gay blogger who feels a need to ungender a trans woman and negate who she is by making it a point to say “born as (male name)”, something which is rude, disrespectful, and has absolutely no importance to the story. The only reason to insist on mentioning the old male name of a trans woman is to make it a point to remind people she’s not REALLY a woman, wink wink nudge nudge. If that’s a copy/paste from ABC I can understand that bullshit coming from them. If that was your decision, get your head out of your ass.
Nikki Araguz
Wow…… Thanks. Please know that regardless of the mistakes I have made in my life, I ma the only one, whether I am the “ideal”person to represent a community that is otherwise ignored. I appreciate the support and hope that I can help prevent anyone else from ever having to go through what I am.