Individual | Inducted 2026
Pat Cummings moved to Chicago in 1982 at the insistence of her gay brother, who regularly sent her copies of Chicago’s *GAYLife* while she was attending the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Before relocating, she helped co-found Gulf Alliance for Equality in the late 1970s, participated in the Mobile Area Student Society (MASS), and debated antigay activist Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum.
In Chicago, Cummings became involved in LGBTQ+ activism, volunteer service, and photography. From 1984 to 1987, she served as a youth group counselor with Horizons Community Services. She performed intake at Howard Brown Health Center when its clinic was located on George Street and volunteered with Open Hand, Vital Bridges, and Groceryland. She attended protests, rallies, and demonstrations with ACT UP Chicago and photographed the Radical Faeries. She also donated photography to the Names Project and to the first three AIDS Walk Chicago events, for which she additionally performed office and press work.
Cummings photographed for Team Chicago at the Gay Games in Amsterdam. Her photographs contributed to the documentary *Art & Pep*, appeared on the cover of and in Owen Keehnen’s book *We’re Here; We’re Queer*, and were used in the documentary *Getting to Zero*. She was the first winner of Proud to Run/Walk as a walker.
Her volunteer work has also included service for Representative Larry McKeon, Ron Sable’s campaign for the 44th Ward, State Senator Sara Feigenholtz, Alder Helen Shiller, and J.B. Pritzker when he was a candidate for state representative in the 1990s. She helped connect the Frank M. Rodde Center with Toys for Tots.
Cummings is currently a member of AVER Chicago and operates a dog-walking business. She lives at the Town Hall Apartments in Lakeview, which provides housing for LGBTQ+ seniors. Through sustained volunteer work and photography, she contributed to organizations, events, publications, and films documenting Chicago’s LGBTQ+ communities.