GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

The Nikki Araguz headlines have revealed a sharpened and harsh transphobic rhetoric. Most of the articles about her refrain from calling her a woman or female. Instead they describe her as an "ex-man" or "Nikki Araguz, born a man". They often also include the name on Nikki's first birth certificate, and the date of her legal name change. Imagine what life would be like if newspapers treated rape victims the way they are treating Nikki Araguz. These sorts of language seem intended and specifically designed to strip Nikki Araguz, and by extension all transsexual or intersex woman, of womanhood and femaleness. Such articles usually do not mention her AIS diagnosis at all. They also generally contain plenty of quotes from Chad Ellis, the most vocal and rhetoric laden attorney fighting to strip Nikki Araguz of her legal womanhood and to expunge legal female status from every intersex or transsexual woman in the state of Texas.

How would you wage such a media war of words?

What do these portrayals imply about the state of intersex and transsexual acceptance in the general population?

Is the general population's lack of acceptance as bad as the mainstream media's portrayals imply?

Is the general population's lack of acceptance as bad as the comments on newspaper articles imply?

What do you expect from Texas? It is the most bigoted state in the union.

Besides the newspapers would site the First Amendent protection.

Great topic post mixie
I think if a media journalist has a bee in there bonnet then nothing you do or say is gonna stop them and frankly you cant win especially when this sorta stuff sells papers

Journalists and the media in general ruin other peoples life and dont give a fuck ...unless they die then they say oh poor so and so and what a lovely person they were !!

I dont think the general public at large are too bad at accepting us but some of the Bigoted media idiots make it hard and try to brainwash others into putting us down and not accepting us

I think focusing on the negativity toward us in the media is counterproductive.

Almost every single group out there can find a lot of published things against them, if they go out looking for them.

Yes, there is much discrimination and many unfair things going on with employment, marriage rights, etc. in diverse parts of the world.

But it's also good to focus on the positive. It happens. If we start seeing ourselves as only victims, we cannot expect the world at large to see us as three-dimensional people.

The general public, at large, care about themselves and little else. They grow vocal against someone when there is a window of opportunity, though. Fortunately, their attention span is short.

I think most of the negative rhetoric has to do with two things: Texas and Texas Media. While you might see negative press in other states it would not take the vitriolic stance that the Texas media seems to love.

I don't think the public thinks much about other than to see it as a "quirky" story. That's also the way some news groups seem to portray it. The general public barely thinks about us at all unless the media point us out.

The comments by Ellis are extremely disgusting and defaming. He's fanning the media flames for his clients' benefit knowing full well how his comments are being perceived. Perfect example of a slime ball attorney that give decent attorneys (yes, there are some) a bad rap.

I doubt that Nikki Araguz is going to come out with much in this case. The fallout for Trans Texans could be even worse. There will also be cases in other states that could be influenced by the attention and results of this case. I hope not.

My personal opinion is that Nikki's attorneys should try to negotiate a settlement.

A settlement gets the case over and done with. A settlement takes control away from the judge and puts Nikki in control. If I were litigating the case, I would offer Delgado and Longoria half the remaining $300,000 to go away as a first offer, and work up from there. There is some incentive for them to take such a settlement. For example, most contingency representation contracts include clauses that increase the attorney percentage as the case progresses. If Delgado and Longoria hold out through likely summary judgment, and then one or more appeals, they would wait years to see the money for the kids, and would give a bigger percentage to the attorneys. If they settle now, they have $150,000 minus attorney's fees to date. What Nikki gets out of it is her marriage intact and $150,000 minus attorney's fees. My first settlement offer would include a provision to have the funds put into a trust that the boys can only access after they reach some designated adult age, so that the money doesn't just disappear during their childhood. Trying to settle would also help determine if Delgado and Longoria are just in it for the money, or if they are suing out of spite. The incentive for Delgado and Longoria, as well as Nikki Araguz, is to get the case out of the media by settling it, in the best interests of the children.

By Texas statute, the boys already have a free ride at any Texas university anyway. By the way, if Nikki settles, she gets the same tuition deal, so long as her marriage remains valid. A settlement also avoids putting the entire transsexual population at risk. Litigation places control over the outcome in the hands of judges, first the local judge and then appeals court judge panels. A settlement enables the parties to take control and to create a quick and certain outcome. There is one fly in the ointment. Because this is a probate case about an intestate death, the court could cede control in the interest of the state and refuse to all the parties to settle.

Unfortunately, the press tactics being used against Nikki Araguz, seem to appear quite often in news articles. For example, news reporters have made it standard practice to publish a transsexual person's previous name if they can find it, even knowing that doing so takes away part of that person's present identity. That information is near the top of Calpernia Addams's list of questions not to ask a transsexual woman. Somehow, when Calpernia was the subject of media frenzy, she had gotten her name change in an obscure jurisdiction the media was never able to find, and they never were able to use her previous name. However, reporters seem to ask her the question constantly back then.

Stories about transsexual people in other states also use the "born a man" language too, even when the woman as transitioned while a teenager. This language even appears in article about young transsexual girls fighting school battles and such.

(a few random news articles obtained from google)

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/may/04/transgender-teen-fort-worth-isd-reach-compromise/

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=5261466&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3074652&page=1

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2645444/Gender-swap-boy-aged-9-is-a-girl.html