Dwyane Wade is letting the world know that he is supporting his son’s decision to become a part of the LGBTQ community.
The recently retired basketball player sat down with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson for their “All the Smoke” podcast to talk about his career and his choice to openly support his son Zion Wade.
“First of all, if you want to talk about strength and courage, my 12-year-old has way more than I have,” he shared. “You can learn something from your kids. In my household, man, that’s all we talk about. We talk about making sure our kids are seen by each of us, me and my wife, We talk about making sure our kids understand the power in their voice.”
Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, have publicly shown their support for Zion, even taking him to a recent Gay Pride Festival in Miami. “We want them to be whoever they feel like they can be in this world,” he continued. “That’s how I go, ‘Understand that you can be whoever. You can be whatever…While you’re trying to go down that process, here’s what’s going to come at you: There is going to be a lot of negativity, there is going to be a lot of hate.’ It’s not even for my son’s sexuality, it’s for being a young black man. So everything that comes with that.”
Wade admits that he was once “ignorant” about the subject, but Union was able to help him open his eyes. “I had to look myself in the mirror when my son at the time was 3 years old and me and my wife started having conversations about us noticing that he wasn’t on the boy vibe that Zaire [Wade’s other son] was on,” Wade said.
He continued, “And, I had to look myself in the mirror and say, ‘What if your son come home and tell you he’s gay? What are you going to do? How are you going to be? How are you going to act? It ain’t about him. He knows who he is. It’s about you. Who are you?’”
Take a look at episode 9 of “All The Smoke” below.