Dwyane Wade protects his wife Gabrielle Union from the rain with his umbrella in New York City

Dwyane Wade proved chivalry isn’t dead when he shielded his old wife Gabrielle Union from the rain with his umbrella in New York City on Friday afternoon.

While on their way to a lunch date, the happy couple, who married in 2014, were seen laughing and chatting as they walked down the sidewalk.

The Breaking In star, 50, held her husband’s arm as she rocked a chic black outfit under a long white coat, which she paired with a pair of brown slippers.

Her husband, 41, wore a black bomber jacket, matching baseball cap, dark wash pants and white sneakers.

During their outing, the retired NBA star carried a medium-sized blue shopping bag.

Their latest sighting comes after Wade revealed that he and his family had left Florida due to anti-LGBTQ policies.

The former Miami Heat star has four children, including 15-year-old daughter Zaya who came out as transgender in 2020.

She has since legally changed her name and gender, with Wade outspokenly supporting her.

The three-time NBA champion had Zaya with his high school sweetheart and first wife Siohvaughn Funches in 2007 before his marriage to Union.

He has spoken of the need to accept and embrace people as they are, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, and his advocacy for the LGBTQ community has earned him much praise and admiration.

During an interview with journalist, host and NBA reporter Rachel Nichols about her show Main featuresWade explained why he decided to leave the state he called home despite being a celebrated figure.

“You know, of course taxes are great. Having Wade County is great. But my family would not be accepted or comfortable there. And so that’s one of the reasons why I don’t live there,” he said.

‘A lot of people don’t know that. I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions.”

Wade explained how specific policies and laws passed by the state of Florida now make it difficult for Wade and his family to feel accepted and comfortable in the state.

Last week, educators in all Florida public schools for all grades are now banned from teaching students about gender identity and sexual orientation in a sweeping move announced by the Ron DeSantis Board of Education.

The move marks a massive expansion of the parental rights in education bill — dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — which was signed into law last year by the governor and sparked a firestorm across the country.

Critics of the policy claim it could harm children who identify as gay and transgender.

While the previous version of the law banned teaching these subjects to children ages 5 through 8, the expansion would now apply to students up to age 18.

The new rule — which will now apply to grades four through twelve in the state after previously being capped at third grade — comes as DeSantis is touring the early primary competition state of South Carolina, where he ranted against ‘awakened’ issues such as transgenderism.

“It’s wrong for a teacher to tell a student that maybe they were born in the wrong body or that their gender is a choice,” DeSantis said during his remarks in Charleston, South Carolina, last Wednesday morning.

“So let’s not let that happen in Florida,” he praised. “Disney objects to that, so be it, we’ll do that.”

The law on parental rights in education caused a national outcry last year. Critics said the language was too broad – leading to concerns that teachers would be afraid to teach sex lessons – and that it would lead to the marginalization of LGBTQ people.

However, DeSantis argues that parents, not teachers, should talk to their children about sexual identity and gender identification.

Wade’s legacy in the state is undeniable having played 15 seasons for the Miami Heat and won three NBA championships. He also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls during his career.

He filed a petition in August to allow Zaya to legally change her gender and name from Zion Malachi Airamis Wade to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade.

She’s been called Zaya for two years.

Zaya has the full backing of Wade and stepmother Union, who have championed the up-and-coming model since she came out as transgender.

Her birth mother started a petition to prevent her transgender child from legally changing her name and gender, claiming that Zaya was being financially pressured into making the decision.

That petition failed after Wade argued in court that he had “full authority” to “make decisions” on Zaya’s behalf when he was awarded custody of his two children in 2011 after they divorced.

Zaya has since launched a major career for herself as a model and has become a budding social media star – with over 603,000 followers on her Instagram account.

Wade explained that Zaya later told him and Union that she had known she had been transgender since she was three years old, but that it took years of “research” before she could express it to her loved ones.

In an interview with People, he said Zaya’s transition gave him “hope.” He first spoke about her transition in 2019 on Matt Barnes’ podcast, All The Smoke.

“I had to look at myself in the mirror. When my son was three years old at the time and me and my wife started having conversations about us, they noticed he wasn’t on the boy vibe that [older brother] Zaire was up.

“I had to look myself in the mirror and say ‘what if your son comes home and tells you he’s gay?’ What are you going to do?

“You’re going to talk about strength and courage. My 12 year old has a lot more than me. You can learn something from your children. In our household we only talk about that. We talk about making sure our kids are seen by each of us. We want them to be who they feel they can be in this world. That’s our goal.

“I saw my son transform into who she has become from day one.

“And for me the point is: nothing changes with my love. My responsibilities will not change. So all I had to do now is get smarter, teach myself more. And that’s my job,” he said.