Met Gala: Dwyane Wade shares hopeful message to the trans community
"Let’s make sure our kids have an opportunity to live this life that we all get to live," Dwyane said.
Basketballer Dwyane Wade shared a hopeful and powerful message in support of the trans community at the Met Gala on Monday (1 May)
Wade appeared with his wife, Gabrielle Union, both in head-to-toe Prada. He is the father of 15-year-old trans model Zaya Wade, and has been a vocal LGBTQ+ ally.
Wade, who recently announced he was leaving Florida partly due to the state’s anti-LGBTQ laws, was asked by Variety what message he had for Florida’s queer community.
“We will always continue to speak out and speak up. We continue to stand with this community because this community is for us, is with us.
“It is our community because [of] our daughter, Zaya Wade. We appreciate you guys for standing strong. We just got to continue to keep believing, continue to keep fighting for what’s right.”
It comes amidst a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping across the whole of the United States, but prominently in Florida.
Wade also confirmed part of the motivation to move out of Florida was “what was going to be the safest and best community for our daughter.”
“Let’s make sure our kids have an opportunity to live this life”
Turning specifically to Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor who helped introduce the ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ bill, Wade said: “I don’t know him. But I do know men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t.”
He continued: “I do know that when our children feel accepted, that 43 percent of our children that feel accepted, from their parents, from the world, it lowers the death rate.”
Wade added: “Let’s make sure our kids have an opportunity to live this life that we all get to live. It starts with our gun safety laws, in our schools but also in our community.”
This year’s Trevor Project report on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People found 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
Young people who are transgender, nonbinary, and/or people of colour reported higher rates than their peers.