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Google PlayDwyane Wade spoke out against the increasing number of laws banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at the TIME 100 Summit earlier this week.
Wade argued that such legislation causes him to fear for his 15-year-old daughter Zaya’s well-being. “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, and not just because of gun violence but because of the way that people perceive her in this world,” he explained.
Wade’s remarks came shortly after Louisiana became the latest state to pass an anti-trans sports legislation with the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The law was passed after Gov. John Bel Edwards decided against taking action as he did last year by vetoing a similar bill. Edwards’ approach allowed for the bill to get pushed through this time around.
This year, anti-trans sports laws has been passed in Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma and South Dakota, all of which are Republican-led states. A total of eight states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia) saw similar results last year.
As noted by The Hill, Wade seemed to also criticize the passing of the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida, which essentially forbids any instruction involving sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through grade 3. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “We’re in this world right now where it’s like, hey, we get information, we’re learning information, social media. We can find everything we want to know about life, right? It’s like our kids can go find all those things.”
“Why are we not talking about it? Why are we not educating our kids? Why are we not educating ourselves? Instead of trying to, you know, close the book on it,” Wade added. “We’re not going to close the book on anyone being gay, bisexual, transgender.”
