Dwyane Wade Calls Daughter Zaya 'Courageous' at TIME 100 Gala, Stands Up Against Transgender Hate (Exclusive)

Dwyane Wade is speaking out against transgender hate. ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the former basketball star and proud father about standing up for his courageous daughter, Zaya Wade, at the TIME 100 Gala in New York City Wednesday night.

"That's all we talk about it, just her courage. First, to even have the conversation with her father, with her family, at eight years old," Wade shared. "I look at her, and I'm 40 years old and I don't even think I'm as courageous as she is. I think we all want to get to that place where we're living the life that we always dreamed of, or we're being the people that we always wanted to be, and it's no different from her."

He added, "Even though the conversation shifts about her gender and her sexuality, but it's the same thing, we're all striving to get to the same place. So, I feel lucky and blessed to be her father, and thankful that I am the one who was put in her life to be her facilitator, and I'm excited where she's going."

When asked how Zaya is celebrating Pride Month, Wade, who parents the 15-year-old alongside her brother, Zaire, 20, son Xavier, 8, and daughter Kaavia, 3, whom he shares with wife Gabrielle Union, said, "No plans, Zaya's not into celebrating pride. I think her biggest celebration was the fact that she has a supportive family and we're being mom, dad, brothers and we're just trying to be what we can be for her."

He continued, "And she don't wanna make it a big thing. For her, 'This is just who I am, I don't need to celebrate who I am,' in that sense. But we support and we love Pride Month. That was Zaya's first time in Miami years ago when she went to Pride Month, but we don't really celebrate it with her."

While it's an exciting time for Zaya as she continues to live in her truth, Wade said it's still a bit of a fearful one with more states trying to enact anti-trans laws. In a conversation on with CNN’s Poppy Harlow at the TIME100 Summit Tuesday, the NBA great said he's "afraid" every time his daughter leaves the house.

"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 the house," Wade said in Tuesday's interview. "And not just because of gun violence, but because of the way that people perceive her in this world."

With that being said, Wade noted Wednesday that he and his family are not going to live in fear.

"Like I said yesterday, with everything that's going on in the world, it's fearful as well, no doubt about it, but we don't stop doing stuff because of fear," he maintained.

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