Kurt Cunningham leaves lasting legacy

San Diego is mourning the loss of Kurt Cunningham, one of the region’s most dedicated advocates for those struggling with depression and other mental health issues. A self-described survivor of suicide, Cunningham died by suicide last Saturday.

Cunningham’s decades-long career helping others – especially the most vulnerable populations within the LGBT community will reverberate for years to come.

“With our San Diego LGBTQ and allied community we mourn the deeply-felt loss of Kurt Cunningham,” said San Diego LGBT Community Center executive director, Delores Jacobs in a statement posted on the organization’s Web site and on social media. “Kurt was a long-time community activist and advocate – kind to so many, unfailingly funny and unreservedly generous with his time, his talent and his spirit. He was a community force and resource.”

Cunningham had made known on the public stage that he had been struggling with suicide and other mental health challenges that began to overwhelm him about five years ago. But 2015 seemed to be his year. It seemed clear in a message he posted on a GoFundMe page, he launched to help him continue doing mental-health outreach and suicide-prevention, that Cunningham’s life had joy and meaning now.

“I am so extremely lucky to have such a great support group. A couple of years ago I had a hard time believing that ANYTHING was possible. Now I know EVERYTHING is possible,” wrote Cunningham.

Not only had he secured a specialized mental health professional certification and landed his dream job at Mental Health America of San Diego as their LGBTQ community outreach coordinator, Feb. 3, he was appointed as suicide prevention trainer. Mental Health America of San Diego is expected to release a statement regarding the loss of Cunningham to its national parent organization next week.

Then there was his big win at this year’s Nicky Awards, held just a few weeks ago. Anyone who knew the history of Kurt Cunningham and the Nicky’s understood the profound satisfaction with which Cunningham took the stage to accept his 2015 Nicky Award for Activist of the Year.

“Kurt had been producer of the Nicky Awards in the past and was nominated 30 times,” said City Commissioner (and Nicky Awards founder and namesake) Nicole Murray Ramirez. “Can you imagine, after 30 years, you finally win? He was very happy.”

According to his colleagues in the mental health profession and his fellow activists in the LGBT community, Kurt Cunningham will be remembered as one of this region’s most effective proponents for suicide prevention and greatest examples of selfless service for the betterment of humanity.

“He wanted nothing more than to remove the stigma from mental health diagnoses,” said one colleague who preferred to speak anonymously.

Likewise, Cunningham worked on the front lines as a volunteer, staffer and even served as a “Peacock Empress” for the Imperial Court de San Diego to end discrimination, stigmatizing and isolation that was sometimes perceived as part-and-parcel to being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender – or as an inevitable part of the experience of living with HIV/AIDS.

“That’s why he did so much for our community going back to the 1980s,” says Ramirez, who noted that Cunningham was voted Mr. Gay Hillcrest one year; was San Diego regional coordinator for the 1987 March on Washington at which Cesar Chavez spoke in support of LGBT equality; and served on staff at AIDSWalk San Diego as the group’s volunteer coordinator.

“Kurt was very open about his struggle with mental health issues and depression. In his final seven-page letter he called on our community to focus more seriously on the issues which affect so many people,” said Ramirez. “Until the very end Kurt Cunningham was an activist who cared more about other people than himself.”

A celebration of the life of Kurt Cunningham will be held at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, Sunday Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. Visit thecentersd.org for more information. Cunningham was 46 at the time of his death.