Spotlight: Susan Reimers
by HOLLY VASIC
Rainbow flags still wave from many businesses around Salt Lake City as reminders of last month’s Pride celebration. As the glitter settles and the sparkles fade until next year, LGBTQ+ advocates continue to support the queer community in the unique culture they’ve created in Salt Lake City. Susan Reimers is one of these advocates. As a transgender woman, she fought for gay rights as a law student and now works with transitioning clients as a therapist at the Utah Pride Center.
Reimers can often be seen walking downtown with her cane in hand taking public transit to the Pride Center, or anywhere else she may need to go. “I live my life around walkable places,” Reimers said. Reimer has retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disorder that causes loss of peripheral vision. “I don’t play any sports anymore, I don’t ride bikes… I thank God for Uber,” she said. When her vision began to fail she left her life as a cartoonist to go back to school and was accepted into the University of Utah’s Law program as well as their Masters of Social Work program. Both majors are strenuous on their own, but she indicated, “They kind of complimented each other.” Reimers said the rigorous readings from law school are broken up by the clinical hours of social work.
Reimers does not let anyone stop her. While she was going through a divorce, her ex-wife attempted to use her blindness against her in court. In response, she helped change the law, “In the past you could say, ‘My ex is not a viable parent because of their disability,’ and then the burden would shift to the disabled parent to prove their viability. I was able to work with lawyers to testify before a committee so now the burden is on the person who is making the accusation,” Reimers explained.
Reimers always knew she wanted to work with the LGBTQ+ community. She remembers a time when she didn’t feel as though she fit into her own skin, “I always knew from the time I was a young child, I knew exactly who I was and what I wanted. Social pressures kept me from not doing it [transitioning] until I was 37. If I could do anything different I would go back and do it earlier.” When she entered law school, gay marriage was not yet legal and her work was part of broader move toward the legalization of gay marriage.
Now Reimers works as a therapist with the trans community at the Utah Pride center. In this role, suicide prevention is one Reimers biggest goals. “I feel like I have mostly been able to make a difference,” Reimers said. She continued, “Unfortunately it’s [therapy] not 100 percent affective, I guess, it doesn’t always work out the way you hope, I think it’s mainly making a difference.” Reimers favorite part of her job is seeing people except their sexuality and become comfortable in their own skin. “It’s amazing to be a part of that,” she said. She has watched couples become closer and individuals get out of bad relationships because of their renewed confidence.
Aside from changing lives at work, Reimers can be found at home working on her book, playing guitar in her at-home recording studio, or having fun with her two daughters.