Dwyane Wade Asked What He’d Say to Parents Whose Child Just Told Them They’re Trans

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union turned heads Monday night at the Met Gala. On the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art steps, the always-fashionable pair wore attire made by Versace: Union in a stunning silver plunge gown and Wade in a white suit.

As they made their way into the museum for the festivities, Union and Wade spoke with a reporter about their daughter Zaya, who came out as transgender in 2020. The pair have become LGBTQ activists since Zaya, now 14, disclosed to her family that she was trans. The reporter asked Wade and Union what keeps them going when fighting for her. 

“Just being a father, just seeing our child grow up every day and doing what you’re supposed to do as a parent is to make sure that you sit back and you see what it is in life that they want to do, and you try to go there with them and try to help mold them into what it is they want to be and who they want to be,” Wade said. “So we’re just doing our part as parents and we love our kids and we get to see them every day. That’s what people on the outside don’t get to see, but we know them and see them all the time.”

“And we believe them when they tell us who they are,” Union added.

The reporter then asked Wade what advice he’d give to fathers whose child just came out to them as trans. 

“I say the moment when you’re in the hospital and you grabbed your daughter, and you looked at your daughter and all the things that went through your mind, all the emotions that went through your mind and how much love filled your heart at that moment,” Wade said. “Don’t let that ever leave you, no matter what. The one thing as parents what we do is we find our mini-me’s and we try to make them just like us. 

“Our kids are going to be who they are. It’s our job to help mold them and help try to push them in the right places that they want to go. But, just remember that moment, what you said in that hospital that day they were born.” 

Wade has called Zaya “one of the greatest teachers of my life.” Through their nonprofit, the Wade Family Foundation, Wade and Union have supported and advocated for Zaya and other members of the LGBTQ community. Wade has dissented anti-trans legislation while Union spoke out against Disney’s response to an anti-LGBTQ law in Florida. Zaya also uses her social media platforms to advocate for herself and the community. 

Union and Wade are raising Zaya and Zaire from Wade’s previous marriage along with Wade’s son Xavier and Dahveon, his nephew. The pair welcomed their daughter Kaavia in 2018. 

About 52% of transgender and nonbinary youth have considered suicide, according to the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. The same survey reported that when transgender and nonbinary youth had their pronouns respected by those they lived with, they attempted suicide at half the rate than those who lived with people who did not respect their pronouns.