5 ways Dwyane Wade supports his transgender daughter Zaya, with wife Gabrielle Union: from their vocal LGBT advocacy and the NBA star calling out Instagram haters – to pride-themed birthdays

Aug 31 , 2022

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are proud parents to transgender daughter Zaya Wade, who’s biological mum is Siohvaughn Funches. Photo: @gabunion/Instagram

Basketball icon Dwyane Wade petitioned to legally change the name of his teenage trans kid Zaya, 15 – though his ex-wife and Zaya’s mum Siohvaughn Funches wasn’t involved

Dwyane and Gabrielle Union show endless support, praising Zaya’s Q&A with Michelle Obama; Union even criticised Disney for its response to an anti-LGBT law in Florida

To her parents, she’s been Zaya for a while now. But it wasn’t until August 22 that Zaya’s father and former NBA star Dwyane Wade filed a petition to change his transgender daughter’s name from Zion Malachi Airamis Wade to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade, according to court documents made available online by the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Zaya Wade is the transgender daughter of Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union. Photo: @zayawade/Instagram

The document states that Dwyane has full authority to make decisions on behalf of Zaya. He is not required to receive consent from Siohvaughn Funches, his ex-wife and Zaya’s biological mother, and only informed her of the petition “as a courtesy”. Dwyane and Funches were married from 2002 to 2010 but infamously endured a messy divorce, per multiple media sources.

Dwyane found new love and married actress Gabrielle Union in 2014, with whom he shares a three-year-old daughter, Kaavia. He also has another son with Funches and a son with Aja Metoyer.

So, how have Dwyane and his wife Gabrielle Union supported 15-year-old Zaya throughout her gender journey?

1. Supporting Zaya through and through

In 2021, Zaya met her idol, former US first lady Michelle Obama, in a virtual Q&A session, which she proudly shared on Instagram. The inspiring author gave Zaya advice on her coming of age and said she was an “amazing role model”. Her stepmum Union and father Dwyane spoke to People after the interview, gushing about how happy they were for their outspoken daughter.

A year before, Zaya had publicly come out as transgender, though Dwyane told Good Morning America that she’s known it since she was three years old. Variety reported that Zaya came out to her parents when she was 12.

But the process didn’t come easy. Union recalled to People how she didn’t have many resources to inform her stepdaughter’s transition so she “just reached out to everyone I knew from social media”, of which she was greeted with “love, resources and information”. She added that she and Dwyane were realistic and described the process as a learning curve.

Zaya Wade has very supportive parents, Dwyane Wade and stepmum Gabrielle Union. Photo: @zayawade/Instagram

Dwyane describes Zaya as “one of the greatest teachers in my life” in his self-titled 2021 memoir.