Pennsylvania: State College Activist to Speak About Living With HIV

After receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis last year, Tom Donohue, 24, quickly decided to take positive action and channel his efforts into HIV/AIDS prevention work. Since his diagnosis, the State College resident has traveled around the country giving audiences a wake-up call about the realities of living with the disease. As part of a local HIV/AIDS Awareness campaign, Donohue will speak to Penn State students at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the HUB Auditorium.

Donohue tells his audience that he contracted HIV through unprotected sex and does not know who infected him. He shares his story of having to inform his partner and family of the news, as well as previous partners. "Oct. 13, 2004, changed the world. It changed my friends' world, it changed my family's world. It's changed the world of people I don't even know," said Donohue, recalling the day he learned he was HIV-positive.

Donohue initially reached out to Allison Subasic, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Student Resource Center. Subasic observed how unusual it was for Donohue to speak freely about his situation and his effort to glean positive action from it. "Most people are much more closeted about it in a lot of ways," noted Subasic, who has counseled HIV patients personally and professionally. For Donohue, talking about his diagnosis was therapeutic and he realized there was nothing to be gained from keeping his situation a secret. "If I can take a negative situation and turn it into a positive situation and change people's lives, why not?" he said.

On World AIDS Day in December, Donohue first found the inspiration to tell his story at Penn State. Since then, he has created a HIV prevention campaign called "Who's Positive," with a Web site and a billboard. And his message seems to have resonated among those who have heard it. Megan Caruso, education chair at Kappa Kappa Gamma, said his speech to her sorority was eye-opening.

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