Dwyane Wade Speaks Out on Leaving Florida: ‘My Family Would Not Be Accepted or Feel Comfortable There’

NBA legend Dwyane Wade — who became a basketball icon during his time with the Miami Heat — is longer a Florida resident. He says it’s because of the transgender legislation state lawmakers have proposed.

In 2020, Wade’s 12-year-old daughter Zaya came out as transgender. Now 15, she’s transitioned with the support of Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union-Wade.

Zaya’s transition was met with pushback. Her mother, Siohvaughn Funches, opposed the transition in court and accused Wade of pressuring her for financial gain. Ultimately, however, a California court approved it.

On the latest episode of Showtime’s Headliners, host Rachel Nichols pointed out the fact that the state he’s most associated with isn’t as supportive.

“The state where you played most of your career – Florida – has a bunch of laws moving through the state legislature right now,” Nichols said. “One of them says if you’re a parent who supports your own child the way you have supported Zaya, you can have that child taken away. You can lost custody of that child just for being supportive the way you have. One of them talks about doctors, making it a felony to treat that child.”

Wade said it wouldn’t be a safe environment for his family.

“That’s another reason why I don’t live in that state,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know that. I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions. Obviously, the taxes are great. Having ‘Wade County’ is great. But my family would not be accepted or feel comfortable there.”

If he could, Wade says he would “love to have a conversation” with those lawmakers to understand their reasoning.

“I would love to understand their personal ideas of why, what’s the reason behind this,” Wade said. “Let’s sit down and talk about it. I don’t think they wanna have conversations.

“Do I hate it? I hate it. I hate that we’re taking so many steps backwards. From everything that I learned as a kid to now, it seemed like we were making so many strides. And now, as an adult, you look back and you’re like, ‘Well, what happened to the strides we were making?’ Because we feel like we’re right back into the 60s and 70s in a sense.”

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