Dwyane Wade’s Candid Talk About Supporting His 12-Year-Old's Gender Identity
Thanks for being here. Thank you. That was a clip from
the ESPN documentary. And first of all, I just-- I think it's what every-- you know, every parent should be
is what you're being right now, which is unconditionally
loving your child and
supporting
your child-- Thank you. --in whoever they are. I mean-- Thank you. That's-- there are so many parents that are just, oh, you're not going the way I imagined or wanted you to be and freak out. And you're so loving andsupportive of Zaya. And what a special child she is. Yeah, she is, she is. Thank you so much for that. First of all, me and my wife,
my wife Gabrielle Union, we are proud, when I say proud,
we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community. And we're proud allies as well. And we take our roles
and our responsibility as parents very seriously. So when our child comes
home with a question, when our child comes home with
a 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. So once Zaya, our
12-
year
-old came home-- and first Zion-- everybody-- I don't know if everyone knows-- originally named Zion, Zion born as a boy, came home and said, hey, so I want totalk
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 would love foryou
guys to call me Zaya. And so internally,
now 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
everybody on the cast of "Pose." And we're just
trying to figure out as much information
we can to make sure that we give our child the best
opportunity to be, you know, her best self. Yeah. I mean, I would think
that it's one thing-- It's one thing to have this at
home, but knowing that she's
going to be out in the world-- Yeah. --because you're
a public figure, and even if you weren't,
she's going to school, and to want to be protective
and to make sure she's safe-- Yes. --that must be a scary thing,
because it's one thing for you to love her and your wife
to love her, but that must-- you just want everyone
to love her the same way. Exactly. And once Zaya came home and
said, hey, you call me Zion, I'm ready to take on this,
I looked at her and said, you are a
leader. You are a leader. And this is our opportunity
to allow you to be a voice. Right now it's through us,
because she's 12
year
s old. But eventually, it will be through her. Right. Well, and GLSEN is an organization you're working with. And there's a lot of-- if anybody else there-- out there can relate to this and needs help, you can go to our website and we can direct you, because I'm sure there are a lot of people that just don't know what to do. Yeah. So you'rea great example. Thank you. The-- I know that everybody is
still grieving over the loss of Kobe-- Yeah. --and all the people
that we lost on-- you must have a lot
of memories of Kobe. And he was-- he was just
such a light, wasn't he? He was just such a
bright, bright light. He was special. I mean, I think my
favorite-- you know, we all have stories and moments
of our interactions with Kobe. But I think what was
special
about
him and why you see so many guys in the NBA or so many younger guysreally tore up
about
this is because he was the first superstar that really embraced different generations, really embraced us. And I think from, like, 2008 on, from the Olympics on, he really put his arms around us, as competitors, and the rest of the world. You saw him being more involved in so many different sports, not just basketball and soccer, obviously, with his daughter and women basketball. But he just started being a person that everybody can call and reach out to and say, hey, Kobe,I have a question. So I'm going to
miss that example-- Yeah. --not only just my
friend, but that example that he was setting not only
for me, but with so many others. Yep. Yep. Well said. He was a good guy. Yeah. You're a good guy. You've got to see
the documentary. It's called D.