Gabrielle Union is beyond proud of her stepdaughter Zaya Wade, who has become an inspiration in the LGBTQ+ community since coming out as transgender in 2020.

Union gushed over Zaya on this morning’s episode of The View, telling the co-hosts that there are “so many things that she does” that make her and her husband Dwayne Wade “so proud.”

“At her school, her teachers write about what they feel about each student. And every time her teachers write about her, they’re like, ‘I’m actually crying as I’m writing this. You are such a pleasure in class. You add so much to the school community,'” she said. “It’s that that makes us proud.”

Describing Zaya as a “good human being,” Union said she’s going off to college next year to be an astrobiology major.

“Who she is is amazing but it’s because we love her so much and we protect her freedom and her humanity and her rights that she’s allowed to blossom,” she said. “When we get compliments on who she is and who she stands for and who she represents, it’s not just the LGBTQIA community. Elderly people come up to me [and say], ‘I wish my parents gave me the freedom to live my full truth and to reach my full potential and I’m so glad that she’s doing this at such a young age.’”

“She’s inspiring so many people to live their complete truth and we are more than proud,” Union added.

In a 2020 interview on Good Morning America, Dwayne revealed that Zaya — then 12 years old — had known since she was three years old that she was transgender. Wade told Robin Roberts at the time that Zaya was the one who educated their family on the transgender community.

“Zaya knew two things: She knew straight and she knew gay,” he said, per NBC News. “But Zaya started doing more research. She was the one who sat down with us as a family and said, ‘Hey, I don’t think I’m gay.’ And she went down the list and said, ‘This is how I identify myself. This is my gender identity. I identify myself as a young lady.”

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.