During my time in school, I can remember occasions where I would be sitting down having a conversation with a group of friends and the question of “What would you do if your kid was gay?” would be asked. Usually followed with a brief period of quiet thoughts, eventually leading to answers that, in my opinion, show their true feelings about how things are currently going in our country today. With the LGBTQ+ community taking the country by storm, it is clear we are working to make the expression of homophobia a thing of the past. Is it really getting better or are people just learning to hide how they really feel so they don’t get, what we call, “Canceled.” When asked the question publicly, the response would be safe and one that showed no signs of homophobic backlash towards their kid’s decision. But when asked in a private setting, I’ve experienced people’s response may be expressed differently with more truth behind it. Some have gone to the extreme by saying that they would disown their kid completely if he came out as gay, while others have just believed they would be disappointed but, in the end still care for their kid. Then after hours of discussion, arguing and trying to understand each other sides of the conversation, everyone eventually just moves on to the next topic. Now personally, this subject seems to stick with me a little longer because its something I really don’t know how I would respond if faced with this situation.
As you could have probably guessed, the question stated earlier came from a group of heterosexual males who tightly hold on to their understanding of masculinity and as we think of our responses, we must also take into consideration how our response might affect how our masculinity is perceived by others. For others, I totally understand why they might produce their certain opinions on this question. Some due to cultural norms, religious beliefs and others just simply due to how they’ve seen others react to this situation. But for me, I wish to try and approach it in a different way.
It can be tough when I’ve been surrounded by countless amount of conservative, masculine mindsets that would only point in the direction of anti-gay ways or try to avoid the situation completely. Understanding that sometimes all someone needs in order to go down an unfamiliar path is the initial example of someone they look up to, but what exactly is the right example?
For the people who are reading this and may not know, Dwayne Wade is a professional Basketball player who spent majority of his years playing for the Miami Heat. Throughout his years of basketball, he has created a legacy of domination and pure skill when on the court. Dwayne Wade was no stranger of success from winning championships to breaking records and will one day hold a spot in the hall of fame next to athletes like Michael Jordan. With such a large following, he understood his influence as a leader and didn’t shy away from being a voice to change. He is now retired and has been focused on his wife, Gabrielle Union, and his four kids, two of which are his own.
Recently, one of Dwayne Wade’s children has recently expressed a change in their gender and it seemed to catch the eye of the media. Zara, who was formally known as Zion, just recently came out as a transgender woman. This took the sports world by surprise as its only ‘normal’ for the fans to see a legend’s son grow up and follow directly in the footsteps of their father. Following this announcement, social media platforms, like Instagram and Twitter, quickly filled the comments with supportive comments on how brave she was for making it public. On the other end, tons of backlash came flooding in on how Zara was ‘gay’ and how Dwayne Wade failed as a father.
Even with such negativity hanging on the shoulders of Dwayne Wade, it was clear where his support was and how he was going to take on the situation at hand. In many interviews following, Dwayne Wade states his and Gabrielle Union’s support was one hundred percent behind Zara and they will be learning as much information as possible to give Zara the best possibility to be her best self. As parents, they spoke of nothing but love and support for any hard decision their kids might choose during their journey in life, even the decision to not be what society has prelabeled them to be. They have even spoke with cast members from the show “Pose” to get a better understanding of what they could do moving forward(Aceshowbiz.com). Increasing your knowledge on the situation, being open, supportive and standing behind your loved ones through their tough times is what I believe the Wade Family set out to be the example for others to follow.
Now to answer the question of: “Is This The Example?” Yes, I do believe this is the example.
Leave a Reply