Recently, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade revealed that his 12-year-old child, formally named Zion, had switched genders and is now going by Zaya.
Rapper Cardi B gave her support during Instagram Live Friday, as she urged people to be open-minded about the issue of gender identity.
.@iamcardib shares her support for Dwyane Wade & Gabrielle Union’s transgender child Zaya. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/oCFE2a9NA5
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 22, 2020
“A lot of people don’t grow up with trans, gay people, this and that,” she said. “They just don’t. So you know I understand that they just don’t be understanding certain s—, but please try to understand. Because sometimes you will be wanting people to understand you. So try to understand somebody else, especially when it is a child.”
The issue of transgender individuals is a hot-button one these days. Critics contend that someone can’t truly change his or her biological gender.
In the case of the Wade family, pundits have called them out, saying that Zaya is too young to have a fully developed gender identity.
But the rapper defended the Wade family against those charges.
“People are saying this kid is too young to transition, but it’s like. How old is too young?” Cardi said, adding that she’s asked her trans friends. “When did you know that you wanted to change?
“And they said ‘I always felt like I was a girl, like I was born like this.’
“People are born like that. Like the Lady Gaga song I was born this way that s— is f—— real. And I know a lot of people are old school. Because you know things, some people are old school because the parents, the grandparents that raised them, or the area that they grew up in.”
Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union first revealed that Zaya is now a female while appearing on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” a few weeks ago.
It appears that the Heat community is supportive of the younger Wade’s gender switch. When she was shown on the jumbotron at her father’s retirement ceremony at AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday, the crowd erupted in cheers.
