Former NBA star Dwayne Wade went on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this morning to promote an upcoming ESPN documentary about his life called “D Wade: Life Unexpected.” A cynical person might accuse Wade of using his son’s sexual confusion as a marketing ploy for the film. I can’t speak to his motivations, but whatever they were, he opened the interview by talking about his 12-year-old son, formerly Zion but now Zaya, who recently decided to become a girl.
Wade’s description of this process, and his response to it, is instructive. Not instructive in the way that Ellen claims — introducing Wade as an exemplar of unconditional parental love. But instructive in that it reveals the stifling confusion and ineptitude of parents who allow radical left wing gender theory to invade their homes.
Wade first explains, correctly, that “when a child comes home with an issue” it’s “our job as parents to give them the best information that we can, the best feedback that we can.” But then he tells us that his adolescent son sat them down one day to announce that he’s changing his gender and his name. By Wade’s telling, he accepted this self-identification without question. What happened to providing information? What happened to feedback?
This would seem to be a very good time for a mature adult to give a child information about biology, information about sex, information about the nature of human identity. It would be a very good time for that mature adult — if only one existed in young Zaya’s life — to deliver a little helpful “feedback.” And if not information and feedback, even a few probative questions might be helpful. Perhaps a question like:
“You say you are a girl. What does that mean? Can you tell me what you think a girl is and how you’ve come to the conclusion that you are one?”
This is the kind of question a competent parent would ask about any significant change or decision a child wants to make. If the child merely wanted to start playing lacrosse instead of soccer, a parent would probably ask them why they wanted to make this change and what lead up to their decision. The point is to help him sort through his own feelings to ensure that he isn’t going to do something he ultimately regrets. It is mind-boggling that every parent would engage in this line of questioning about a change of sports teams but some parents won’t ask any questions about a change of gender.
In fact, it’s worse than that. Wade, who just a minute prior had claimed that a parent’s “job” is to “give the best information” switched courses and said that after his son became a girl, it was his, Wade’s, “job to go out and get information.” He went from the leader in the household giving information to the subservient follower taking cues from his 12-year-old. Indeed, Wade says he looked at his son-turned-daughter and actually said “You are a leader.” He told Zaya that it’s his “opportunity” as a father “to allow you to be a voice.”
Except that 12-year-olds are not leaders. They’re 12-year-olds. And it’s not their place to be a voice for the LGBT community or any other community. Least of all is it a father’s job to be a mouthpiece for his child’s supposed voice of leadership. This is all completely backwards and disordered, and underneath all of the madness is a boy who just needs his mom and dad to lend some clarity amid the confusion. Instead, his ridiculous, ineffectual parents are more focused on following cultural trends than helping their child become a well adjusted human being.
But don’t worry. Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union knew just where to look for “information” on how to parent their “transgender” child. Union immediately “reached out to everybody on the cast of ‘Pose,’” which is a “queer musical dance series.” Not to fear, Zaya. Mom and Dad are consulting with a queer musical dance series. They’ll have it all figured it out soon enough.
It would be funny if it weren’t psychotic and sickening, and if there weren’t actual children being destroyed by this unfettered, left wing lunacy.