NBA star Dwyane Wade’s 15-year-old daughter, Zaya Wade, just got an official name and gender change. As TMZ reports, a Los Angeles County judge signed the teenager’s new Identity.
In August 2022, retired NBA player Dwyane Wade filed to legally change the gender and name of his transgender daughter. A little over six months later, the application was approved.
The motion to change the 15-year-old’s legal identity was signed by a Los Angeles County judge on Friday (Feb. 25), according to TMZ. Originally using the state name Zion Malachi Airamis Wade, she now legally identifies with the female name Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade.
The transition did not go without a fight. Dwyane Wade, 40, shares Zaya with ex-wife Siohvon Funches, who didn’t share the same opinion as her ex-husband.
Zaya Wade came out as transgender for the first time in February 2020.
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According to Page Six, Siohvaughn accused Wade of “pressuring her son” to change his gender and name “to take advantage of financial opportunities.”
In a lawsuit filed by Wade in November 2022, he hit back at his ex-wife, saying her allegations were “absurd” and that the petition was about “allowing Zaya to meet the milestones of a young adult with confidence and to accept joy.”
Funches believed her daughter—whom she referred to as Zion in her rebuttal—should wait until she was 18 to make a decision.
Since Zaya Wade’s first public announcement that he was transgender, Wade has been vocal in defending his daughter’s right to “live more comfortably.”
Wade believes Siohvaugn should support her daughter and that “Zaya should not be forced to put her life on hold” while her mother “acknowledges and accepts her truth.”
Wade stated in a November 2, 2022 Instagram that he and current wife Gabrielle Union will not be forcing the identity of any of their children.
