Transgender woman was a champion for change
Nikki Araguz Loyd lived in the spotlight as a transgender woman who fought for acceptance every step of the way.
Araguz Loyd died Wednesday in her home in Humble at 44. She is survived by her husband, William Loyd, and their two children. Her cause of death has not been determined, and funeral arrangements are pending.
Transgender advocates in Texas praised Loyd for her commitment since the 1990s to support transgender rights. She most notably fought a highprofile court battle over the legitimacy of her marriage to a Wharton County firefighter who was killed during a massive fire in 2010.
She courted reality TV, became a public speaker and rode in the Houston Gay Pride Parade. She also worked as an entrepreneur in Houston and founded the Transgender National Alliance in 2015.
“Every part of me hurts,” William Loyd said in a Facebook post Thursday. “I can’t stop crying. Our kids can’t stop crying. The Matriarchal part of our family is just gone and will never be replaced. I’ll love you forever TigerLilly. I’ll never love again, you were and always will be the love of my life.”
Araguz Loyd, who was born in 1975, started taking hormone therapy at age 18. Three years later, she successfully petitioned the 245th state District Court of Harris County to change her name. That same year, 1996, she changed the gender on her birth certificate in California to female, according to earlier reports in the Chronicle.
She first gained notoriety in the 1990s when she appeared on TV talk shows — Jerry Springer, Maury Povich and Sally Jessy Raphael — discussing gender issues, including when she was raped at 13 and infected with HIV. She said she developed as a woman, both physically and emotionally, despite being born a boy.
Eventually, in August 2008, she married Wharton County firefighter Thomas Araguz. She underwent genital reassignment surgery about two months later.
In 2010, Thomas Araguz died while battling a fire at an egg farm in Wharton, a town of 9,000 about an hour west of Houston. The firefighter’s mother and ex-wife sued Araguz Loyd to keep her from receiving death benefits. The family wanted the entire $600,000 to go to his two young sons, arguing the marriage wasn’t valid because Araguz Loyd was born a man.
A judge sided with the firefighter’s family in 2011, and Araguz Loyd’s first appeal that year was denied.
The case made national headlines. She was featured on “20/20.” Other transgender activists took up her cause and Out Magazine wrote a lengthy profile about her.
“This is my new normal, the activism and the storytelling of my life,” she told the magazine.
The case wasn’t Araguz’s only concern after her husband’s death. She spent nearly a month in jail in 2012 after she was accused of stealing a woman’s Rolex. She then became the face of change at the jail.
Months after her release, new federal standards took effect requiring prisons and jails to make certain accommodations for LGBT inmates. Araguz had previously been booked into the jail under her birth name. After her theft arrest, Araguz’s case helped spark a policy change under then-Sheriff Adrian Garcia, requiring that transgender inmates be addressed by their chosen name.
Araguz Loyd met Houston artist William Loyd following her release, and they married the next year. Together they opened the Starving Artist art gallery in Montrose, and in 2014 she launched a web series, “Nikki’s American Dream,” about her life.
Also in 2014, a state appeals court determined that she was a woman at the time of her marriage to Thomas Araguz. The ruling was reaffirmed the following year, and she became eligible to collect death benefits. Meanwhile, she continued to be a visible figure in Houston, starting the Transgender National Alliance in 2015 and opening Nectar Café in 2017.
LGBTQ rights groups said Araguz Loyd was courageous in her willingness to speak about being transgender, especially at a time when most people don’t acknowledge the struggle that comes with it.
“She has been fighting for transgender rights for three decades and we thank her for leading the hard-fought battles for equality for all in Houston,” said Angela Hale, acting CEO of Equality Texas. “Her death is a reminder that 30 years later our community must still wake up every day fighting until the attacks on our transgender children and adults cease and our state embraces all people with the dignity and respect every Texan deserves.”
Emmett Schelling, executive director for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, echoed those sentiments.
“I think for somebody to do this as an individual, it becomes much bigger than just about yourself,” Schelling said. “It’s that connection between understanding the struggle you’re personally facing and translating that to a struggle that the overall community faces. And to be willing to step out despite lack of understanding, lack of knowledge and even lack of support… really shows the dedication and conviction she had.”
Lauryn Farris, another trans activist and board member at the transgender education network, said she met Araguz Loyd during her court battle around 2011. Araguz Loyd occasionally stayed with Farris and her family in San Antonio, and they became close friends.
Farris said she saw a side of Araguz Loyd that was rarely made public.
“She was very human,” she said. “She had a soft and vulnerable side too … It’s really important for people understand, she was just a woman. Just a human being, trying to live in this world.”