Dwayne Wade continues his mission to have a social impact and was recently celebrated this Thursday after receiving the nonprofit’s Elevate Prize Catalyst Award at The Elevate Prize Foundation’s Make Good Famous Summit. He might have won three NBA titles and became an Hall of Famer after his 14 seasons in the league, but this last one might be his most influential accolade.
Before accepting this prize he shed a light over his daughter’s troubles. “We’ve done so many great things here so it wasn’t easy to leave,” the Heat icon told the press. “But the community wasn’t here for Zaya, so the community wasn’t here for us.”
Young Zaya, who is about to turn 17 at the end of the month, revealed herself as transgender back in 2020 while Florida was enduring anti-trans legislation. This eventually meant that the entire Wade family sold their home in the Sunshine State and moved to California.
NBA great Dwyane Wade launches Translatable, an online community supporting transgender youthhttps://t.co/toCnenj9YJ
— WFAA (@wfaa) May 24, 2024
When he accepted the award, Dwayne shared it with his daughter and gave her credit for being the inspiration behind Translatable, the new online community created in support of transgender children and the people around them.
“The question was presented to her as, ‘If you have one thing that you want to see change in this community, what would it be?’,” the former player recalled. “And, for her, it goes right to parents. It goes right to the adults. It goes right to us. It’s not the kids. It’s us. And so she wanted to create a space that felt safe for parents and their kids. That’s what Translatable is, and it’s her baby.”
After hearing Wade’s plans, the foundations CEO Carolina García Jayaram said that she will make a separate additional donation to the new platform, that was designed with support from The Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign.
“Dwyane Wade and what he represents speaks to the ethos of the whole foundation,” Jayaram told the press. “He is such a hero in the sports universe and even beyond basketball. He’s been in the social justice space almost since the very beginning of his NBA career and most people don’t know that.”
Translatable is already generating lots of positive comments while Wade is being celebrated for his social initiatives
The executive director of the Ali Forney Center, which helps homeless LGBTQ+ youth, has expressed his admiration for Wade’s commitment to impact society. He explained why Translatable comes at a critical time for the youth, as more than 500 proposals have been introduced for legislation this year in the United States.
“Not all bills turn into law, but they’re all acts of hate that affect our kids in very devastating ways,” Alexander Roque said. “We know statistically that every time there’s an anti-LGBTQ bill in the media, there’s a 400 percent increase in calls to suicide hotlines by young people. We also know that we’re seeing a significant increase in unhoused LGBTQ youth because of family rejection.
So to have someone of this celebrity so invested in the community, it’s helping to change the tide of what’s happening to our kids and perhaps one of the most hopeful moments in what I hope is a changing tide.”
Actress and comedian Phoebe Robinson also expressed her gratitude towards the South Beach icon, as she’s followed his post-basketball career for being outspoken on many issues.
“In a time when people are so worried about saying anything because they are only thinking about their bottom line, I think the fact that he’s thinking about humanity first is amazing, really stressing the importance of connection and community to help protect people and help them grow and just blossom,” she said.
