Subtitles section Play video
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Thanks for being here.
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Thank you.
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That was a clip from the ESPN documentary.
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And first of all, I just--
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I think it's what every--
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you know, every parent should be is what you're being right now,
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which is unconditionally loving your child
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and supporting your child--
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Thank you.
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--in whoever they are.
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I mean--
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Thank you.
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[APPLAUSE]
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That's-- there are so many parents that are just, oh,
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you're not going the way I imagined or wanted you to be
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and freak out.
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And you're so loving and supportive of Zaya.
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And what a special child she is.
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Yeah, she is, she is.
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Thank you so much for that.
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First of all, me and my wife, my wife Gabrielle Union,
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we are proud, when I say proud, we are proud parents of a child
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in the LGBTQ+ community.
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And we're proud allies as well.
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And we take our roles and our responsibility
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as parents very seriously.
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So when our child comes home with a question,
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when our child comes home with a issue, when our child comes
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home with anything, it's our job as parents
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to listen to that, to give them the best information that we
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can, the best feedback that we can,
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and that doesn't change because sexuality is now
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involved in it.
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So once Zaya, our 12-year-old came home--
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and first Zion-- everybody--
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I don't know if everyone knows-- originally named Zion, Zion
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born as a boy, came home and said, hey,
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so I want to talk to you guys.
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I think going forward, I'm ready to live my truth.
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And I want to be referenced as she and her.
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I would love for you guys to call me Zaya.
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And so internally, now it's our job to,
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one, go out and get information, to reach out
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to every relationship that we have.
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My wife reached out to everybody on the cast of "Pose."
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And we're just trying to figure out
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as much information we can to make sure
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that we give our child the best opportunity to be, you know,
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her best self.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I would think that it's one thing--
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[APPLAUSE]
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It's one thing to have this at home, but knowing that she's
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going to be out in the world--
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Yeah.
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--because you're a public figure,
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and even if you weren't, she's going to school,
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and to want to be protective and to make sure she's safe--
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Yes.
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--that must be a scary thing, because it's one thing for you
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to love her and your wife to love her, but that must--
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you just want everyone to love her the same way.
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Exactly.
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And once Zaya came home and said, hey, you call me Zion,
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I'm ready to take on this, I looked at her and said,
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you are a leader.
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You are a leader.
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And this is our opportunity to allow you to be a voice.
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Right now it's through us, because she's 12 years old.
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But eventually, it will be through her.
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Right.
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Well, and GLSEN is an organization
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you're working with.
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And there's a lot of-- if anybody else there-- out
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there can relate to this and needs help,
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you can go to our website and we can direct you,
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because I'm sure there are a lot of people that
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just don't know what to do.
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Yeah.
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So you're a great example.
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Thank you.
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The-- I know that everybody is still grieving over the loss
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of Kobe--
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Yeah.
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--and all the people that we lost on--
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you must have a lot of memories of Kobe.
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And he was-- he was just such a light, wasn't he?
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He was just such a bright, bright light.
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He was special.
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I mean, I think my favorite-- you know,
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we all have stories and moments of our interactions with Kobe.
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But I think what was special about him
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and why you see so many guys in the NBA or so many younger guys
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really tore up about this is because he was
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the first superstar that really embraced different generations,
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really embraced us.
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And I think from, like, 2008 on, from the Olympics on,
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he really put his arms around us,
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as competitors, and the rest of the world.
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You saw him being more involved in so many different sports,
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not just basketball and soccer, obviously,
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with his daughter and women basketball.
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But he just started being a person
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that everybody can call and reach out to and say, hey,
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Kobe, I have a question.
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So I'm going to miss that example--
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Yeah.
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--not only just my friend, but that example
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that he was setting not only for me, but with so many others.
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Yep.
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Yep.
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Well said.
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[APPLAUSE]
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He was a good guy.
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Yeah.
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You're a good guy.
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You've got to see the documentary.
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It's called D. Wade, Life Unexpected.
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It airs Sunday, February 23, at 9:00 on ESPN.
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We'll be right back.
