Dwyane Wade Shares How He Encourages Daughter Zaya To ‘Live Her Truth’ After Coming Out As Transgender
Dwayne Wade continues to prove that he’s a great man on and off the court. While appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres show, the NBA superstar opened up about some of the changes he had to make in his household after his child bravely came out to him and his wife Gabrielle Union as transgender. He also shared how they both encourage their kid “to live her truth” no matter what.
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While chatting with the DeGeneres, Wade started off by saying,
“First of all, me and my wife Gabrielle, we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we are proud allies as well. We take our roles and responsibilities as parents very seriously. So when our child comes home with a question, our child comes home with an issue, our child comes home with anything, it’s our job as parents to listen to that, to give them the best information we can, to give the best feedback we can.” The 38-year-old went on to say, “and that doesn’t change because sexuality is now involved in it.”
The 12-year-old had recently come out as transgender and asked Dwyane and step-mom Gabrielle to use “she” and “her” pronouns. Instead of Zion, their daughter asked if they could call her Zaya from that point forward. Wade explained,
“Once Zaya, our 12-year-old, came home… first, Zion. I don’t know if everyone knows, originally named Zion — Zion, born as a boy, came home and said, ‘Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward, I’m ready to live my truth. And I want to be referenced as she and her. I’d love for you guys to call me Zaya’.” Wade added, “So, that was our job to go out and get information, to reach out to every relationship we have.”
Dwyane said Gabrielle reached out to everybody on the cast of Pose to figure out as much information as they could to make sure they’re giving their child the best opportunity to “be her best self.”
“Once Zion came home and said ‘call me Zaya‘ and was ready to take on this, I looked at her and said, “You are a leader. It’s our opportunity to allow you to be a voice.”
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