Newspaper Features AIDS Task Force Leader Gregory Manifold '71

March 22, 2010

March 22, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — Gregory Manifold, executive director of the AIDS Task Force and 1971 graduate of DePauw University, is the subject of a feature article in the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his organization is based. In the story, Manifold describes his years at DePauw as one of the "experiences that have transformed my life so dramatically." 

Emma Downs writes, "Manifold started college in 1967, a religion major at DePauw University in Greencastle. At the time anti-war sentiment was high. Students -- even the ones in tiny Greencastle -- wanted to end the war in Vietnam and change the world. Manifold was one of them."

"There was this feeling of the grinding of the plates," he recalls. "Things were changing. We were deciding what was important, both in society and for ourselves."

The story continues, "The summer before his junior year, Manifold came out as a gay man. Subsequently, he made one of the most difficult decisions of his life: Although he planned to finish his degree in religious studies, he would no longer pursue a career as a minister."

After graduating from DePauw, Manifold worked as an actor and farmhand, and was interim director of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art before becoming leader of the AIDS Task Force 12 years ago.

"Part of my affection for the place was because I am a gay man," Manifold tells the newspaper. "In the early days especially, gay men were disproportionately affected by the disease. The task force was the only social-service organization I felt really connected to."

Access the complete text -- "Ready for the task: AIDS group director's past helped to shape his life, career" -- at the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Web site.

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