Dwyane Wade Says ‘I’m Still Afraid Every Moment She Leaves The House’ As He Speaks On Keeping His Trans-Daughter Safe

June 8, 2022 by J. G. in Sports with 0 Comments

Dwyane Wade, Zaya Wade

Dwyane Wade Says ‘I’m Still Afraid Every Moment She Leaves The House’ As He Speaks On Keeping His Trans-Daughter Safe

NBA legend Dwyane Wade is expressing concerns he has for his 15-year-old daughter, Zaya Wade, who is trans.

While chatting during a recent interview about lawmakers passing discriminatory anti-transgender sports bans across the U.S. Dwyane Wade called the legislation a joke and challenged the lawmakers to live a day as his daughter, Zaya Wade. The 3-time NBA champion went on to say,

“As blessed as it is for my daughter to have parents who can support her, I’m still afraid every moment she leaves the house. And not just because of gun violence, but because of the way people perceive her in this world.”

He continued,

“It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like everything that like we’re in this stage in this world right now where we’re learning information on social media. We can find everything we want to know about life; Our kids can go find all these things. but then it’s like ‘Hey don’t talk about this in school. Don’t do this in school.’ Why are we not talking about it? Why are we not educating our kids? Why are we not educating ourselves instead of trying to close the book on it?”

He added,

“You can’t close the book on what somebody want and how they feel. We’re not going to close the book on anyone being gay, bisexual, transgender… We can’t close the book on that.”

Dwyane Wade has said that Zaya Wade, who was born male, has identified as a girl since she was 3 years old; her family began publicly identifying her as such in 2019 and has been vocal in supporting her ever since.

Zaya Wade. Gabrielle Union, Kaavia Wade, Dwayne Wade,

During a previous interview with radio personality Angie Martinez last year, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade’s wife and Zaya Wade’s stepmom, recalled taking Zaya Wade to her first Pride parade and getting her on a float in 2019. Gabrielle Union said she made it her mission to ensure Zaya Wade felt supported. She explained,

“If we’re going to be a part of this parade and pride, we need our village, Zaya’s village. So family, friends, tutors, teachers, coaches. So everyone came out and they walked the whole parade route and watching Zaya on that float watching her with her community um and come alive it was like she was being birthed on that float.”