Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union have both been a champion of LGBTQ+ rights over the past few months, a journey Wade discusses in a new interview with Ellen Degeneres. While some have criticized Wade for encouraging his child to live her truth at such a young age, Wade has been adamant that he wants to be the best father possible and hopes for his child to live the best life she can.
In the aforementioned interview, Wade opened up even more about his child and how she recently came home asking to go by a new name. His 12-year-old was born with the name Zion which is a more masculine name. Now, she prefers to go by Zaya which is something Wade has 100 percent embraced.
"When Zaya came home and said, '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,'" Wade said. "So internally it’s our job to one go out and get information, to reach out to every relationship that we have. My wife reached out to everyone on the cast of Pose. We just tried to figure out as much information as we can to help our child be her best self.”
Wade's entire family has been supportive of Zaya, particularly his wife Gabrielle Union who took Zaya to the 2019 Pride parade in Miami. The former basketball star also says he hopes Zaya can become a leader in the LGBTQ+ community and will continue to speak out on gender identity-related issues.
[Via]