A LOS Angeles court granted the petition of former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade to change his transgender daughter Zaya’s gender and legal name after a nearly one-year court battle.
Zaya, 15, has been known online following her father’s public support of her transitioning journey ever since she came out as a transgender woman in February 2020, when she was only 12 years old.
According to an Insider report on Sunday, a court in Los Angeles County on Friday gave approval for Zaya’s legal name and gender change in her official documents.
Her current name in official documents is Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade. In August 2022, more than two years after Zaya disclosed her gender identity to the public, the former NBA superstar submitted the petition for the name and gender change on behalf of his daughter, the report said.
Zaya’s birthname was Zion Malachi Airamis Wade.
The judge decided that Zaya should be legally recognized as a female, which means that any future government documents related to her will reflect her gender identity as a female.
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Accusations
But Zaya’s mother had a different opinion from Wade, and accused the former NBA superstar of using Zaya’s gender for self-gain.
Last year, Wade’s former wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, accused him of pressuring his trans daughter to undergo the legal name and gender change in order to capitalize on the opportunities Zaya would get as a transgender woman.
Wade denied the allegations and said that the claims of his former wife “have hurt our children.”
Funches and Wade were married from 2002 to 2010.
Proud allies
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres last 2020, Wade announced that then 12-year-old Zaya had officially changed her pronouns into she/her, adding that he and his current wife Gabrielle Union are “proud parents” and allies of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community.
“When a child comes home with a question, when a child comes home with an issue, when a child comes home with anything, it’s our job as parents to listen to that, to give them the best information that we can, the best feedback that we can. And that doesn’t change because sexuality’s now involved in it,” said Wade.
