My Uber Driver Asked Me to Explain Zaya Wade Coming out as Trans

This is what happened next.

One Saturday afternoon, I’m getting dressed to meet my mom and brother for a quick ride to Midway Airport in Chicago. I had just spent the morning working on the finishing touches for my course: How to Write About Gender, a four-week course I created after my community exploded (in the most positive way) over two webinars of the same topic that I hosted last year. I close my laptop and hurriedly grab my bookbag and some lemonade before walking downstairs to find my Uber.

The driver, Larry, is waiting out front when I step outside. He’s a Black man who looks to be in his 50s but knowing the neverending youth and vigor of Black people, he could be 80 for all I know. I put on my seatbelt and Larry starts driving. Literally a minute or two into the drive, he turns the music down and says, “Young lady can I ask you a question?” This is the conversation that followed:

Me: Yeah, sure.

Larry: I hear on the radio all this talk about this basketball player…Dwayne Wade?

I think to myself, “Oh lord, does he pick up on the fact that I’m trans nonbinary? Nah…how could he?

Larry continues, “and I want to know can you tell me what transgender is?”