NBA legend Dwyane Wade is going to court to have his youngest child’s name and gender changed officially from Zion and male to Zaya and female, Media Take Out has learned.
And Dwyane is making the petition without the consent of Zaya’s mother Siovaughn Wade, which is surprising to many fans of Dwyane Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union.
According to new legal documents, filed by Dwyane’s high-priced lawyers, the former NBA player is petitioning a Los Angeles County Court to make Zaya’s transition official. Dwyane and Siovaughn’s youngest child’s name is legally Zion Malachi Airamis Wade, and they are changing her name to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade.
In the court documents, seen by Media Take Out, Dwayne points out that the child’s mother, Christian pastor Siohvaughn Funches does not need to consent to this legal change.
Dwyane’s lawyers write, “Pursuant to the terms of the Final Custody Judgment, (Dwyane) has full authority to make decisions on behalf of the petitioning minor, and he is not required to receive consent from Ms. Funches-Wade.”
Siovaughn has been noticeably quiet about her feelings about Zaya’s new gender identity. But as Media Take Out has reported in the past, Siovaughn who is a religious leader has suggested in some of her sermons that she is, at the very least, uncomfortable with what’s going on in the Wade household.
Dwyane’s lawyers claim that, while they didn’t get the consent of Zaya’s other birth parent, “as a courtesy, Ms. Funches-Wade has received notice of this petition.”
In the filing, Dwyane is asking that the court legally issues a decree recognizing that the minors’ gender is changed to “female,” reasoning that the change should be done “to conform with gender identity.”