Contributed by Diamond Bullock
Zaya Wade has become a trending topic since her parents’ recent announcement of her identifying as transgender. She made her first red carpet appearance, accompanied by father Dwyane Wade and stepmother Gabrielle Union, at the sixth annual Truth Awards in Los Angeles this past Saturday.
She attended fashionably, wearing, according to CNN, a “bright green suit jacket and button-down with flared black dress pants and a hot pink diagonal stripe detail” with “hot pink clutch.” Her parents wore “coordinating black and white suits with hot pink and green tops underneath.”
Dwyane Wade posted about his daughter’s experience, saying “Last night was Zaya’s first red carpet and we couldn’t have been prouder of how she handled the questions that were asked of her. She has emerged as one of the young faces and voices for the LGBTQ+ community”:
The Truth Awards highlights Black LGBTQ figures and allies’ achievements in their lives and careers as well as any cultural contributions. The awards show also provides educational scholarships for the LGBTQ youth. Although this was her first public appearance, Zaya’s transgender identity has been previously discussed by her father on Ellen. He told Ellen: “Me and my wife, my wife Gabrielle Union…we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we’re proud allies as well.” Both Wade and Union are continuing to serve as LGBTQ allies by supporting their daughter’s decision on social media as well as during public appearances: “When our child comes home with a question, when our child comes home with an issue, when our 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 is now involved in it.”