'We're Here, We're Queer'

Zaya Wade is determined to use her fame to help young trans people navigate their identities

- By Dennis Cavernelis

She's only 15 but she’s already made her catwalk debut at one of the top fashion shows in the world and been featured on the cover of a magazine.

But Zaya Wade is far more than a hotshot model in the making. The daughter of basketball star Dwyane Wade and stepdaughter of actress Gabrielle Union is also an outspoken activist, using her name and her clout to try to make life a little easier for young trans people.

“I’m a microphone,” she says in the spring issue of Dazed magazine.

“I’m my own person and I have my own experiences. But for me, as a role model, I try to use my personal experiences to broadcast the positives and also the negatives in life.

“Because a lot of LGBTQI+ youth go unrecognised in every way.”

Zaya, who came out as trans when she was 12, wants to be the voice of young people struggling to be open about their identity. “I’m here to share those experiences, to voice them but also to enhance them. So the world can know: we’re here, we’re queer, we’re here to stay and we aren’t going anywhere.”

But Zaya hasn’t had an easy ride. Her dad and stepmom are her biggest supporters but her mother, Siohvaughn Funches (41), has tried to stop the teen from formally adopting her identity.

Dwyane was awarded sole custody of his daughter and son, Zaire (21), when his marriage to Siohvaughn broke down in 2010, and last year filed a petition for Zaya to legally change her name and identity.

Siohvaughn filed papers objecting to the petition, claiming her ex may have pressured Zaya for his own financial gain.