 I'm not sure how many of you have seen this, but retired NBA superstar Dwayne Wade is a really good person. I did not know that Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union had a trans daughter, but these are basically as loving as you could hope for in terms of, you know, parents, the trans children. And in this interview here, he's going to explain why it's important to support, you know, people like his daughter. Louisiana enacted an anti-trans sports ban. It's not the first state to do so. The governor there called a discriminatory distressing. And I wonder what your reaction is and your message to lawmakers and states where these bans are happening. You know, you guys are going through this in your own family. And I wonder what you think. Yeah, to me, it's a joke. I mean, this is our life. We live this. And so when you out there making rules, and if you're not experiencing this, if you're not living this, and you're just out there signing away and making laws, that's not right. That's a joke. Like come and live a day in my world with my daughter. Come and see how it is to walk through this world as her. Right? Like, I just think like we're losing our humane, like we're losing the human side of us. And as sad as it is, as blessed as my daughter is to have parents who can support her, I'm still afraid every moment she leaves our house. And not just because of gun violence, but because of the way that people perceive her in this world, right? But the way that, you know, the people who's out there making decisions have now tried to, like, I'm like, we ain't got enough time for me to go into it. Like, I really don't, like, I really don't, it doesn't make sense to me, right? It's like everything that, like when this stage and when this world right now where it's like, hey, we get information, we're learning information, social media, like we can find everything we want to know about life, right? It's like our kids can go find all these things, but then it's like, hey, don't talk about this in school. Don't do this in school. Don't do this. Why are we not talking about it? Why are we not educating our kids? Why are we not educating ourselves instead of trying to put, you know, close the book on it? You can't close the book on what somebody won't and how they feel they are. We're not going to close the book on anyone being gay, bisexual, transgender. We can't close the book on it. And that's like, I just don't understand, I personally don't understand Papi. So yeah, basically, that is an amazing parent right there to not only support his daughter and love his daughter, but to fight for his daughter, to advocate for his daughter. And him and Gabrielle Union are just, I had no idea that they had a trans daughter and were so supportive because they are basically the model of what every parent should be if they have a trans child. Gabrielle Union talks the importance of loving out loud when parenting a trans teen. So Gabrielle Union has once again championed her daughter Ziya Wade and transgender rights more broadly. The Cheaper by the Dozen actor told BuzzFeed on Wednesday, March 23rd that affectionately loving Ziya boldly and publicly has always been the gold standard of parenting to which parents aspire including herself and husband Wayne Wade, who's 40. Ziya Wade publicly came out as transgender in 2020 and is Union's daughter by marriage along with brothers Zaire and Xavier. Union shares daughter Kavia James Union Wade with her husband. Since 2020 Ziya's parents have become known for their fierce advocacy regarding LGBTQ rights and clapping back at naysayers who questions Ziya's decision and their parenting. I mean, imagine that these are people in the public eye and they are showing you what you do in this instance. You love your child, period, end of story. It shouldn't even be a question. Like if you love your child, I mean, every parent should just instinctively love their child unconditionally but that isn't the situation here. And the problem is even if you are a loving parent and you embrace your child, well, there's still a lot to be concerned with because of society, you know? And so even though their daughter is going to be a lot better off than other trans kids just because they accept their daughter, still, I mean, we see what's happening. In Texas, they've banned gender-affirming care for trans youth and any parent who seeks out gender-affirming care is going to be investigated as a fucking child abuser. It's truly just dystopian to the highest degree imaginable. And this is after the GOP is claiming that really we care about broadening parental rights. And like six months after the CRT hysteria and all this talk of parental rights, they won't let parents seek out gender-affirming care for their own children. It's just truly insane. And this isn't like these parents are, you know, they're doing what they want. They're fringe, right? They are literally following the advice of medical experts who deem gender-affirming care for trans youth medically necessary. It reduces suicidality. It reduces depression, improves mental health. But yet it's all political, right? Attacking trans people, trans families, trans children. This is what gets the GOP support, I guess. This is what wins in most people because a lot of normies, I guess, don't know about trans people. Trans visibility is a relatively new phenomenon and, you know, they've never met anyone who's trans so it's easy to be ignorant and accept this hate when you don't know someone. But, um, yeah. The 49-year-old actor said continuing to love Ziya during every phase of her life did not present a fork in the road as it does for some parents who decide to disown their children because of their identity. Union said at first she didn't understand why loving Ziya was a big deal. She was just doing what she had always done. But now she sees it as one of many needed examples regarding how parents and allies can be supportive. It's important for us to live and love out loud, she told BuzzFeed. We didn't exactly understand why supporting Ziya's trans identity was a thing because it's like we love all our kids out loud. But it is a thing and a lot of people do need an example. People do need that kind of representation. And they're just, they're so on point. They're so on point. So, you know, she just, it wasn't even a question. They just accepted her. They just said, okay, we love you. Obviously, you're our daughter. And then they're realizing, okay, because of society, we can't just love our daughter. We have to literally teach people how to love their trans children and teach people how to not hate trans people. You know, it just, I just, I can't speak highly enough of them. I did not know about this and they're such good people, such role models. Just, I cherish them so much. As our children show up, it is our job to believe them when they tell us who they are and not impose our dreams, hopes, fears, and desires on them, she said. It's our job to be loving, compassionate, protective guides for our children, but their lives are their lives and we have to respect that. We do not believe in any kind of shaming for existing that is bizarre, cruel, and harmful. So, I mean, Dwayne Wade, Gabrielle Union, I can't think of better parents than this. If I had parents this loving when I was a kid, not to say that my parents weren't loving and didn't eventually accept me, but like just from the jump, right? If there was no issues whatsoever when I came out, I feel like I would be mentally a lot healthier even as an adult, right? But just the fact that they are so loving. I mean, this is the most wholesome thing ever. Now, speaking of loving parents, I do want to share this video here. Believe it or not, and a lot of people may have already seen this. Fox News released a segment on a trans family, a family with a trans child, and this was one of the best segments I've ever seen. And yes, you heard that correctly. This came from Fox News, and there's something in here that the mom says that is so crucial to parents with trans children. Let's watch. When you walk into the street, you wouldn't think anything different. 14-year-old Ryland Wittington is a typical Southern California teenager. And the Wittingtons, along with mom Hilary, dad Jeff, and sister Brinley, are a typical family. The only difference, though, in Ryland's eyes is what this family can mean to the tens of thousands of kids under 18 who identify as transgender. We put our story out there so people could see that there's another family out there that is going through what we're going through, or there's another family who's proud of who they are. Before Ryland could even speak, he managed to tell his parents that he is a boy. I could just see that it wasn't him trying to be a brat. It was like painful. It was truly painful for him to have to wear feminine clothing and for us constantly telling him that you're a girl. And unlike some trans kids, when Ryland came out at age five a few years later, he had the full support of his parents. Initially, there was some pushback from us in trying to understand this. We were confused like most people are. We thought that gender and sexuality were the same thing. They took us a while to figure out that those two things are different and that children actually do recognize their gender identity very young. Some of them, not all. But they listened to Ryland and to Hillary's conservative faith. For me, it's just a deep spiritual belief that people even got it and he created us the way he wanted us. Well, then, yes, he created Ryland just the way he is. And they listened to families. They met in support groups. There was a father who was sitting across the table. He says, you have no idea how lucky you are to be here. Which kind of took me back. I didn't at that point consider myself lucky to be there. And he said, you know, our child had displayed this gender dysphoria or this gender misalignment at the same age that Ryland has. And we didn't listen and we pushed back. That pushback led that child to turn to self-harm as a teenager, which 60% of trans and non-binary kids engage in according to the Trevor Project. More than 50% consider suicide. That for me was the turning point. I didn't want to see Ryland to go through that. I'd rather have a living son than a dead daughter. I guarantee. Now I'll stop it right there. That is probably going to be the most common reaction to parents. These are great parents, right? They didn't get it right away. Not everyone can be as, you know, knowledgeable about this subject as Gabrielle Union and Wayne Wave. That's like so ideal. They're just such an ideal parent to have if you're LGBTQ+, that it's probably really uncommon, unfortunately. But these parents, they learned and they grew. And that's what you're supposed to do if you're a parent. You're not supposed to beat the gayness or transness out of your child. But unfortunately, a lot of people think that you can, right? They think that if you just discipline your child, do not give in. If your son starts putting on a dress, well, don't enable him. Beat him. That's how you make them, you know, not be trans. And that's so dangerous because as this good Fox News report explains, the suicide rate is extremely high, extremely high. Now before we get to the negativity surrounding this segment, I want to finish it because again, I never thought I'd say this, but Fox News, good job on the trans segment. Those words came out of my mouth. Like they genuinely did an objectively good job on this segment, just sharing this family story. Like this is just a perfectly normal family. And they were a little bit confused at first, but they learned to love their trans son. Beautiful. You can't ask for anything better than that. If we had pushed back and done what a lot of parents do, I don't think that we would have either one of the kids that you see before you here today. Allowing him to live authentically and true to himself and be who he really feels like he is. When you get to know Ryland, you see just how proud and confident he is of himself. Ryland's story got international attention in 2014 when a family YouTube video went viral and Hillary has since written a book called Raising Ryland. I never thought that I would be known for this as well as I am, but really it's just a small part of who I am. He just brushed things off his shoulders. I think it's why he moves on in his life and he's just kind of think everything we've been through. He's just like learned to do that and he's really good at it. I can never do that. The Whittingtons believe sharing their story could make a lasting difference in another child's life, something they learned from that support group father nearly a decade ago. I'm just here to make the right smoother for others. You might be struggling right now, but we believe in you, this family. We might not know you. We might not know where you live, but we understand you and we believe in you. What extraordinary courage displayed by Ryland, his sister Brinley, father Jeff, and mom Hillary. I want to thank the Whittington family for speaking to us. It's not easy, particularly at a time when transgender issues have been politicized. People are afraid of what they do not understand, Dana. This family hopes their story will lead to more understanding, more acceptance, and ultimately more... That's Fox News. Now, I kind of want to be a dick and say, uh, who's politicizing it? But I mean, this dude did a good job, okay? So I'm gonna mute my cynicism here because this channel, this network has done irreparable harm to trans families like this, but this was an objectively good segment. And again, the theme was, maybe if we shared our story, we can help others. Because that's the thing. The reason why there's so much ignorance about the low level of visibility of trans people, right? Trans people have always existed. They've always existed. But what is new with regard to the trans experience is visibility, right? And once you see heightened visibility, the ignorance goes away and the hate begins to die down. This is what happened with queer rights, with gay rights in particular, with regard to the queer liberation movement. Gays started to come out. You know, a lot of millennials came out in the 2010s, the early 2010s. I was one of those. I was part of that wave. And, you know, for a lot of us, we are the one person who is queer that our family knows who can point to. And it's hard, right? Because, like, we're all just people. I don't want to be the representative of gay people for anyone because I'm a flawed human being. I could be an asshole sometimes. So, you know, I'm cognizant of the fact that, like, if I am rude to someone, they'd think, oh, well, a gay guy was rude to me. Therefore, all gay people must be pieces of shit. So, you know, we shouldn't have to be model citizens as queer people. But unfortunately, we're in this predicament to where we really do have a lot of... I don't want to say power because that's not the right word. But we can have a lot of influence if we are visible and we explain, you know, what our experience is like. So, you know, before, I never really used to like to talk about, you know, my experience as a gay man, but I think it's really important, not just for queer youth who might be able to identify with my story, but because if somebody can say, look, I don't know any gay people, but I know Mike online, and he's pretty cool, that can make a difference. And, you know, some people might hate me and perhaps they use me as their justification for hating gay people. Not that that's legitimate, but, you know, this is what I think a lot of queer people have to do. You know, queer affirming families have to do. They have to try to, you know, feel as if they can share their story and help others, hopefully. That's kind of the goal. But, of course, because this was Fox News, you know, conservatives couldn't handle that they did a good segment on trans people. Michael Knowles tweeted, call me old-fashioned, but I prefer when my conservative news outlets don't encourage parents to trans their little children. Now, if you watched the fucking story, you would see that they did not encourage their child to be trans. Their child was trans, and they struggled to accept it and understand it, but they did eventually because they're good parents. So, in what instance, in what world can you watch that and think, oh, my God, they're indoctrinating their children. These are libs. These are probably conservative people, generally speaking. This is like a white suburban family. Do you honestly think that they're fucking hyper-libs? Maybe they are. I'm not sure. But, like, on this issue, they were not indoctrinating their child into trans, but that's what this dipshit is saying. They didn't even watch the fucking segment, and then he's not alone. Ben Shapiro said the same thing. This would be absolute despicable, insane lunacy if I saw it on CNN or MSNBC. To see it on Fox News is a complete betrayal of anything remotely resembling conservatism or decency. Really? So, hearing the story of a family who has a trans child that just loves that child is insane lunacy according to Ben Shapiro. What do you propose they do, Ben? Beat that child? Force him to put on address? Like, you're literally advocating for child abuse while claiming that what they're doing is child abuse. You heard the fucking story. You heard their story. And you're still against it, Matt Walsh. Same thing. Thread. I've appeared on Fox News many times. I appreciate the platform they've given me. If what I'm about to say ruins that relationship, so be it. We have to call this evil lunacy out whenever we see it, especially on our own side. Oh, well, how brave. You might not get invited back to fucking Fox News, so you're gonna call out this insane lunacy. Now, Matt Walsh is somebody who not only produced an anti-trans propaganda piece, perhaps as hysterical, as reformadness, but he also admitted that he does not believe trans adults should be able to have access to gender-affirming care. So, he literally wants to control the way that trans people express themselves. Like, our basic right to address the way we want to express ourselves as human beings, he's like, no, if you're a man born with a penis, I think it should be illegal for you to paint your nails and wear a dress. Well, who the fuck are you? Go fuck yourself. Maybe I think it should be illegal for you to have your beard and wear the clothes you wear. Why the fuck do you get to dictate what people wear and dress, but we don't get to dictate that for you, right? Maybe you should fucking, I don't know, wear pink. Maybe you should wear a dress. Maybe we should legally force you to paint your nails, Matt Walsh. If that sounds preposterous, because it is, then it's preposterous for him to say that trans people aren't allowed to express themselves in the way that they want to. I mean, being able to fucking express yourself, the clothes that you wear is the most basic freedom that we have as human beings, right? But this motherfucker wants to control what you wear, the clothes that you put on when you get up in the morning. It's insane. And yet, you have people like Matt Taiibi supposed leftist caping for people like Matt Walsh who thinks that trans people should be banned from transitioning. I mean, what kind of a fucking world is this that we live in? It's so sickening. This is the modern conservative movement. It's a fascist movement. And if you click on Matt Walsh's Twitter bio, he's a self-described theocratic fascist. Now, Matt Taiibi was asked about this and his response was, oh, well, he's very clearly joking. I'm paraphrasing what he said. But then if you listen to Matt Walsh, he's in favor of arranged marriages, banning transitions. He is against marriage equality. He thinks that voting rights isn't something that should be promoted. In fact, I think he said he's just outright against voting rights. So he has quite literally vocalized fascist policy positions. And we're supposed to believe that this is just like LOL JK. Teehee, I'm just joking. No. He is literally a theocratic fascist. Literally. I've covered the shit that he's talked about in his program. The man is actually a fascist. And he's made it his mission to take on LGBTQ plus people, which leads me to believe that if he cares this much, he's got to be hiding something himself. Either way, I don't care what you're hiding. I don't care if you have issues that you need to work through. Go fuck yourself. I don't give a shit if you're offended by the existence of LGBTQ plus people. Suck a dick. Go away. We don't care about you. Okay. You're not going to impose your will on all of us in society. We don't subscribe to your religion or your faith. So we don't have to abide by what you want. Fuck off.