Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union pay tribute to Zaya Wade and trans kids on Met Gala red carpet
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union pay heartfelt tribute to their trans daughter at the Met Gala (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union paid heartfelt tribute to their daughter Zaya Wade at the 2022 Met Gala.
Wade and Union are parents to 14-year-old Zaya Wade, who came out as transgender two years ago.
When asked by a reporter for Variety what keeps him fighting for his daughter’s rights, Wade said: “Being a father… is to make sure that you sit back and see what it is in life that they want to do and try to go there with them, and try to help them, mould them into who it is they want to be.”
He added, when asked to give advice to other parents of trans kids: “The moment when you were in the hospital and you grabbed your daughter and you looked at your daughter, all the emotions that went through your mind and how much love filled your heart… don’t let that ever leave you.
“As parents we find our mini-mes and we try to make them just like us, but our kids are going to be who they are and it’s our job to help mould them.”
Union added: “And we believe them when they tell us who they are!”
Dwyane Wade offers advice to dads who have trans children pic.twitter.com/sGvAj2xffw
— Variety (@Variety) May 3, 2022
Union wore a silver Versace gown with a dramatic trans and red floral corsage at the waist.
She explained to People how her look responded to the Met Gala theme of “Gilded Glamour”: “When you think about the Gilded Age and Black and brown people in this country, this country is built off of our backs, our blood, sweat and tears.
“So we added these red crystals to represent the blood spilled during the accumulation of gross wealth by a few during the Gilded Age, off of the backs of Black people and people of colour in this country.”
Wade also wore Versace, sporting a brilliant white suit with no shirt underneath.
In an interview last year, Wade told Today’s Craig Melvin that he didn’t know much about the LGBT+ community before Zaya came out, and that her journey has “opened my eyes”.
“I didn’t know anything, really wasn’t knowledgeable about the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.
“What it has done is it opened my eyes and my ears to something greater and bigger than I, and my daughter has allowed us gracefully to be her support system.”
He added that Zaya is “the strong one in this family. She’s a hero. It’s my wife, it’s our family’s job to make sure that we listen to her.”
Union added in an interview with People that transphobes should “be very prepared” if they attack her daughter.
“Jerks exist in every area of life,” she said. “And we function from a place of truth in our household. But if you come at us, oh, be very prepared.”
