Former NBA player Dwyane Wade spoke out on Thursday in support of his 12-year-old child Zion and vowed to keep speaking out in defense of the LGBTQ community. “You talk about strength and courage, my 12-year-old has way more than I have. You can learn something from your kids,” Wade said on the All The Smoke podcast. “I watched my son from day one become into who she now eventually has come into. Nothing changes with my love, nothing changes with my responsibilities.” He went on to say it is those who refuse to accept the LGBTQ community who are “different” from everybody else, and not the other way around. “Everybody get used to it, this is the new normal,” he said. “The ones that don’t get it, the ones stuck in a box. You’re different, not the people out here living their lives, man, you know what I’m saying? Ultimately, you want your kids to be free and live their lives.”

He also said he wanted all of his children to “be whoever they feel like they can be in this world” and said he knew certain paths could lead to “a lot of negativity” and hate. However, Wade said he was using his platform to speak “for so many others in the LGBTQ+ community” and noted that this process has required him to look into the mirror and examine his reactions as a father. “One thing I got to do now is get smarter and educate myself more, and that's my job,” he said. This comes after Wade received backlash for a family photo posted on Instagram where Zion is seen wearing a crop-top and fake nails.