On Tuesday, Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Colman Domingo welcomed actor and comedian Marlon Wayans to the show to discuss having a transgender child. According to Wayans, your child deciding to transition is the same as them deciding to date someone of a different race.
Domingo began with some praise for his guest while also making sure he got as many letters of the initialism as he could, “But then the thing I love—I can tell you and I’m going to tell you this—the most is how you stand for LGBTQIA.”
Jimmy Kimmel guest host Colman Domingo tells actor Marlon Wayans, "the thing I love—I’m going to tell you this—the most is how you stand for LGBTQIA." Wayans claims that his kid transitioning is like interracial dating, "I don't care what your kid is. They could be LGBTQ, you… pic.twitter.com/zYORlsTUwY
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 22, 2026
Wayans responded that loving your child should mean simply affirming their beliefs, “I mean, first and foremost, it's just human to stand for love, period, right? Unconditional love is something we should all have because every human deserves the same love and compassion as any other person, and I have a child that is trans. I have—my daughter is now my son. And for me, you know, I'm always gonna love, support, protect, and respect my baby. That's always going to be, so as long as—”
He also promoted his stand-up routine about it, “I got a whole hour about it. And understand—I understand people—you know, for a parent or anybody in your life, you know, acceptance is the most beautiful place that you can be. Now, I have a special about the five stages of grief I went through in terms of my child's transition that I went through.”
Getting to his wild analogy, Wayans continued, “And it brought me from denial to acceptance. And it's a beautiful journey that I think a lot of people need to hear because at the end of the day, I don't care what your kid is. They could be LGBTQ, you could be a black person bringing a white person home or a white person bringing a black person home. There's always some kind of beef. But at the end of the day, are you happy? Then I'm happy for you. That's all.”
The premise of Wayans's and Domingo’s conversation is that a good parent loves their child just the way they are, but other parents know who kids think they are is not necessarily who they actually are. Comparing people who do not want to affirm their children’s delusions to racists who do not want their kid to date someone of another race is morally upside down.
Here is a transcript for the July 21-taped show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
7/22/2026
12:03 AM ET
COLMAN DOMINGO: But then the thing I love—I can tell you and I’m going to tell you this—the most is how you stand for LGBTQIA.
MARLON WAYANS: I mean, first and foremost, it's just human to stand for love, period, right? Unconditional love is something we should all have because every human deserves the same love and compassion as any other person, and I have a child that is trans. I have—my daughter is now my son. And for me, you know, I'm always gonna love, support, protect, and respect my baby. That's always going to be, so as long as—
DOMINGO: Thank you.
WAYANS: And I think—
DOMINGO: But I’m going to tell you this—
WAYANS: I got a whole hour about it. And understand—I understand people—you know, for a parent or anybody in your life, you know, acceptance is the most beautiful place that you can be. Now, I have a special about the five stages of grief I went through in terms of my child's transition that I went through.
And it brought me from denial to acceptance. And it's a beautiful journey that I think a lot of people need to hear because at the end of the day, I don't care what your kid is. They could be LGBTQ, you could be a black person bringing a white person home or a white person bringing a black person home. There's always some kind of beef. But at the end of the day, are you happy? Then I'm happy for you. That's all.
