Dwyane Wade is refuting his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade’s “severe and dangerous allegations” about his help of their daughter Zaya, who’s transgender.
On Tuesday, Funches-Wade filed a petition asking a California courtroom to stop her former partner from permitting Zaya, 15, to legally change her title and gender on her delivery certificates.
In courtroom paperwork obtained by E! News and different publications, she accused the retired NBA star of “pressuring” their baby to “transfer ahead with the title and gender change with a view to capitalize on the monetary alternatives that he has acquired from corporations,” together with Disney.
Elsewhere within the petition, Funches-Wade argued that Zaya ought to “make this monumental resolution” for herself when she’s “on the age of majority, which is 2 and one-half years away.”
Wade responded to the petition Thursday morning in an emotional and strongly-worded Instagram post. In it, he accused Funches-Wade of constructing “a mockery of my dedication to my household,” including that his ex-wife was an “absent dad or mum” who had not made “any sacrifice or effort to take part in her kids’s lives in over a decade.”
“Nobody in our home would ever drive Zaya or any of our kids to do something towards their will, a lot much less drive an id on them,” he wrote. “This isn’t a recreation for my household and undoubtedly not for Zaya. That is her life!”
As of Thursday afternoon, Wade’s submit had acquired greater than 290,000 likes and was praised by lots of his well-known mates, together with WNBA participant Candace Parker and NFL veteran R.K. Russell.
Wade and Funches-Wade had been married from 2002 to 2010. Along with Zaya, the previous couple shares a 20-year-old son, Zaire.
Wade first confirmed Zaya’s gender id ― together with her consent ― whereas showing on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2020 to advertise his ESPN documentary, “D. Wade: Life Unexpected.” On the time, he mentioned that he and his present spouse, Gabrielle Union, had been “proud allies” who had been decided to supply Zaya “the perfect alternative to be her greatest self.”
CHRIS DELMAS through Getty Photos
Since then, Wade and Union have established themselves as staunch LGBTQ rights advocates. At the Time 100 summit in June, Wade mentioned he feared for his daughter’s security following the passage of Florida’s Parental Rights in Training ― or “Don’t Say Gay” ― invoice and different anti-LGBTQ laws throughout the U.S.
“As blessed as my daughter is to have mother and father who can help her, I’m nonetheless afraid each second she leaves our home, not simply due to gun violence, however due to the way in which folks understand her on this world,” he said. “We’re not going to shut the ebook on anybody being homosexual, bisexual, transgender ― we will’t shut the ebook on that.”