Dwyane Wade just confirmed that his 12-year-old child is a trans girl and now goes by the name Zaya. During an interview on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Wade opened up about what it was like when Zaya came out to the family as trans.
“First of all, me and my wife, Gabrielle Union, we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community, and we’re proud allies as well,” the former NBA player said. “We take our roles and our responsibilities as parents very seriously.”
He added: “When our child comes home with a question, when our child comes home with an issue, when our child comes home with anything, it’s our job as parents to listen to that, to give them the best information that we can, the best feedback that we can. And that doesn’t change because sexuality is now involved in it.”
Wade went on to explain that his child was “born as a boy” and “originally named Zion.” But one day, she came home and told the couple that she was ready to be her true self. She told them: “Hey, I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward I’m ready to live my truth. I want to be referenced as she and her, I would love for you guys to call me Zaya.”
In a previous statement, Wade explained that, when it comes to raising an LGBTQ child, the onus is on him to educate himself so that he can be as supportive as possible. On “Ellen,” he went into more detail about how he and Union are doing that.
“It’s now our job to go out and get information, to reach out to every relationship that we have — my wife reached out to everybody on the cast of ‘Pose’— we’re just trying to figure out as much information as we can to make sure that we give our child the best opportunity to be her best self,” Wade said.
He added that this is an opportunity for Zaya to be a leader, but until she’s old enough to advocate for herself, that’s his and Union’s job.
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