This Arizona professor lets strangers ask him about being trans — even the offensive stuff
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/this-arizona-professor-lets-strangers-ask-him-about-being-trans-even-the-offensive-stuff/ar-AA1NJeG6?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=cd6b7852d1374d6badd8c989fa794258&ei=87 🔗 [Link: msn.com/en-us/news/us/this-arizona-professor-lets-strangers-ask-him-about-being-trans-even-the-offensive-stuff/ar-AA1NJeG6/]Joseph Darius Jaafari (2 Oct 2025)
It's hard to offend Eric.
He's a father to a sassy child, a professor who guides often-skeptical college students, and a transgender man.
From tasteless jokes to accusations of child grooming — both in person and, more broadly, in the media — Eric has "heard it all," he says. And that makes him the perfect person for the project he's been leading for the past eight months: answering uncomfortable questions about his gender identity.
Since the start of the year, Eric has traveled across Southern Arizona hosting "ask me anything" sessions about transgender people, cheekily titled "Trans 101."
So far, he has held only a handful of the sessions, mostly in houses of worship and progressive-leaning spaces, blending casual conversation with audience Q&As. The goal — create empathy for a stranger — is one of the most effective ways to ease cultural tension, experts say.
He sees it as his way of contributing at a time when anti-trans laws and rhetoric are at historic highs, which has ramped up even more in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. His approach also reflects a long-standing practice in conflict resolution: Sitting face-to-face with people who may not understand you.
