What Critics of Dwyane Wade’s Daughter Get Wrong About Trans Children

This story includes quotes with derogatory language about transgender people. 

Last week, Dwyane Wade publicly announced on Ellen that his 12-year-old child is socially transitioning, now going by Zaya and using she/her pronouns. After speaking about his and his wife Gabrielle Union’s acceptance of Zaya’s identity and responsibility as parents to support and learn more about her gender, overwhelming praise from the LGBTQ+ community and allies followed.

Perhaps predictably, Wade’s announcement also brought about ignorant comments from members of the public and some celebrities. After Dwyane’s most recent appearance on Good Morning America (where he explicitly said that Zaya identifies as trans and straight), several public figures, like rappers Young Thug and Boosie Badazz, expressed criticism about his parenting. Their comments, which focus on Zaya’s preteen age and fear of gender reassignment surgery, reveal that many still perpetuate transphobia due to a lack of understanding around what it means — and what it doesn’t — to come out as transgender, especially at a young age.

Young Thug took to Twitter Tuesday to express his disapproval for Zaya’s gender identity. “All I wanna say to [Dwyane Wade’s] son is ‘GOD DONT MAKE MISTAKES’ but hey live your true self,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. The same day, Rapper Boosie Badazz posted an Instagram video also misgendering Zaya and emphasizing her young age: “That is a male,” he said in the clip. “A 12-year-old. At 12, they don’t even know what they next meal is gonna be… If he gonna be gay, let him be gay. Don’t dress him as a woman, dawg… Don’t cut his fucking dick off.”

Both Thug and Boosie were both heavily criticized on social media, where some users called their opinions “transphobic” and “ignorant.” “Truly love how young thug uses queer culture to make himself/his music aesthetic look ‘more edgy,’ yet when a child truly feels that she is a girl/woman and want to be identified as such, it’s an issue,” one Twitter user wrote. The backlash against Boosie seemed to manifest in the real world as well. Today, the rapper claimed that he was turned away from a Planet Fitness due to his comments about Zaya.

Their comments could have severe consequences. A 2014 study shows that a third of gender variant participants felt very stigmatized when misgendered, while another 2018 study reveals that the suicide rate in trans youth who are referred to by their chosen name is reduced by half.

Thug’s comment also enforces gender essentialism, which would dictate, for instance, that men only have certain characteristics, women have others, and that people cannot move away from the gender identity assigned to them at birth. The sentiment is deeply ironic considering that Thug himself has been lauded as a gender-bending rapper, who is unafraid to wear couture gowns on his album covers and womenswear in public.

While the age of trans kids continues to be a source of debate, recents studies show that trans children’s gender identities are equally strong as that of cisgender children. Some children as young as ages 3 to 5 have been known to express that they do not belong to the gender group they were assigned at birth. Families who don’t affirm their trans kid’s gender identity have been shown to dramatically raise the child’s likelihood of contemplating and attempting suicide, a 2016 study shows.

Boosie’s Instagram post also features common misunderstandings when it comes to transitioning, including that all transgender people transition medically and that transgender kids will undergo gender reassignment surgery immediately after coming out. Despite Boosie and others’ assumptions, Wade and Union have not publicly stated that Zaya has the desire to transition medically or will do so.

If Zaya does decide to medically transition, hormone replacement therapy is often not recommended by doctors until around age 16, and genital construction surgery is often not performed until adulthood. According to the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, about 14 percent of trans women and 72 percent of trans men said they don’t ever want full genital construction surgery. For those who do want to medically transition, it could literally be lifesaving.

Actress Serayah McNeill, best known for her role as Tiana Brown on Empire, also jumped in the conversation with a video posted on her Instagram story. “Let’s not jump to a life changing decision that can never be undone,” she said, speaking of Zaya. “That’s really serious.” But according to Vox, the number of trans adolescents who want to “detransition” are extremely rare. “The potential benefits from gender-affirming hormones (improved mental health) will usually outweigh the low risk of an adolescent later changing their mind and regretting cosmetic changes,” the article states.

Regardless of the transphobia, Zaya Wade has been a beacon of light for many queer folks, but especially for Black and trans individuals. In a Vox essay, Black trans writer Vanessa Clark called Wade and Union’s public support of Zaya “groundbreaking.” “Many black trans people like myself have long hoped for the day when black athletes, with their platform and influence on the black community, can openly date a trans woman and openly accept their trans child,” Clark wrote. Dwyane and Gabrielle Union’s support is even more heartwarming considering that 67% of Black trans youth say their families make them feel bad because of their trans identity, according to an HRC report.

Zaya herself seems to take it all in stride. In a video clip posted by Union on February 11, Wade is seen asking his daughter if it’s worth being trans “even when people are being mean,” to which she replies: “I know it can get tough, definitely. But I think you push through and you be the best you.”

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