Father’s Day, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) honored retired SDSU professor Emery Cummins with their annual Rev. David Farrell Community Service Award in recognition of his longtime activism for social justice. Cummins was a supporter of “gay rights” long before it became fashionable.
When I contacted Emery Cummins to arrange a time when I could interview him “for about 15 minutes” by phone, he suggested we meet for coffee. My first reaction: “I’m too busy to meet. I only have a small window of time to get this article done, etc.” Then I read his bio, along with glowing emails from members of our congregation, and realized what a gift to ME it would be to have the opportunity to sit down face to face with such an amazing, compassionate, progressive-thinking man. How right I was!
Emery Cummins has been a friend to MCC for over four decades. In 1972, he was teaching a class on Human Sexuality at SDSU and reached out to MCC. Our pastor at the time, Rev. John Hose, arranged a reception for Emery’s students to attend service and then meet and interact with gay and lesbian congregants. “When they saw how normal these people were, it blew (the students) away,” he said. Emery made this outing a regular part of his course and had MCC members such as Al Smithson come to his classes to tell their stories and answer questions. Fellow SDSU faculty thought this was wonderful, while some conservative students chose to boycott class on those days. However, when it was time for class evaluations, with regularity, many students commented that the visit to MCC was the most impactful part of the course.
Emery majored in literature at Wheaton College in Illinois. He taught high school English near Los Angeles before taking a teaching position at SDSU in 1966 in the Department of Counselor Education. He was chairman of his department for five years in the 80’s, and in the 90”s, he served as the president of the San Diego Society for Sex Therapy and Education. He also taught Human Sexuality for Counselors and was a licensed psychologist and counselor. Emery retired in 2005 after impacting the lives of so many counseling students. He is an ordained elder in the local Presbyterian Church and continues to advocate for recognition and acceptance of people from the LGBT community, including both members and clergy within the denomination.
Emery was not brought up accepting and open-minded. He was born and raised in Detroit in the conservative Baptist church in the 40’s. “I was brainwashed and pounded with those (negative) views of gays,” he said. “I’m really grateful to MCC for helping me through that conflict.” He recalls attending Rev. Houston, Jr.’s ordination service and having an authentic spiritual experience when Houston served him communion.
In 1978, when the Briggs Initiative was on the ballot, Rev. David Farrell and Al Smithson approached Emery and asked him to form an official organization on the SDSU campus to oppose it. Despite having a bit of fear, Emery took on the challenge and the initiative was defeated.
As is widely known, Rev. David Farrell has a history of spreading the message of God’s unconditional and unending love for everyone regardless of who they are, reaching out especially to the GLBT community. When asked how he felt about receiving the award that bears his name, Emery said, “I have enormous affection and respect for David Farrell. I’ve heard David preach many times, not expecting to be ministered to, but he got through to me. The kind of love and acceptance he embodied affected me because he meant me, too! He always made outsiders like me feel welcome.”
Sipping the last of our Starbucks coffee, our time together was coming to an end and I asked Emery if there was anything he wanted to say to the congregation through this article. He said, “I hope they know that their presence in our community is in fact an outward reflection of the love of Christ, the way they greet one another and strangers who come every week.”
And as Emery rode off on his BMW motorcycle, I knew with confidence that Emery was an excellent choice to receive this award, and I felt blessed and grateful for our meeting.
