Former Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade said that he and his family moved from the state of Florida for their transgender child, believing the Republican-led state has become hostile to LGBTQ rights.
“A lot of people don’t know that. I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions,” the former basketball star said in a clip shared with PEOPLE. “I mean, obviously, the tax [situation] is great. Having Wade County is great. But my family would not be accepted or feel comfortable there. And so that’s one of the reasons why I don’t live there.”
Dwayne Wade’s 15-year-old son came out as transgender last year and now identifies as a woman named Zaya. In the clips shared with PEOPLE, he talked about growing as a father.
“I tell my dad all the time, I’m just a mirror image of the way he loved us and the way that he accepted not only myself and my brothers but other kids in the community that didn’t have father figures,” Wade said. “And so I don’t know any difference. And so yes, I had to educate myself and yes, I had to get a better understanding. And yes, I had to lose some friends along the process, but I never wavered on loving my kids and trying to find space to get the chance to understand them.”
As Breitbart News reported last year, Dwayne Wade’s ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, accused her husband of pressuring his son to become transgender for the financial incentive of getting endorsement deals, alleging that he was “positioned to profit from the minor child’s name and gender change with various companies through contacts and marketing opportunities including but not limited to deals with Disney.”
“I have concerns that [Wade] may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies,” she continued.
She added that Wade had already admitted he made “a lot of money” from the transition.
“[Wade] told me that he intended to make our child very famous due to the name and gender issue and also informed me that there would be endorsements/contracts associated therewith,” she said.
“Zion, who was present at the time, answered that various companies were interested and that Disney was a prospective company,” she claimed.
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