A Care2 petition is asking General Mills’ Wheaties breakfast cereal to put Chris Mosier, the first openly transgender athlete to qualify for a U.S. national team, on its iconic box. The petition has gathered nearly 4,000 signatures.
View the Care2 Petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/722/790/427/
If Mosier snags a spot on the Wheaties box, he’d be the first openly trans athlete to do so. (Wheaties featured pre-transition Caitlyn Jenner, then known as Bruce, after her gold medal victory in the Olympics decathlon in 1976.)
“As a transgender woman and activist, I’ve seen firsthand how the power of companies and brands can influence culture and social issues,” says Care2 petition author Sarah Rose, who is also Care2’s LGBTQ Issues Advocate. “An endorsement from Wheaties would bring another level of validation to transgender athletes everywhere and send the message that they are just as much a part of America’s story as athletes past.”
Mosier started his athletic career as female, then began to transition in 2010. In 2015, he earned a spot on the Team USA sprint duathlon men’s team for the 2016 World Championship.
Mosier already has a lot of “firsts” under his belt: he is the first openly transgender athlete to be featured in the “Body Issue” of ESPN Magazine, and he recently became the face of Nike’s first-ever advertisement featuring a trans athlete. The triathlete is not competing in the Olympics, but the ad aired during the 2016 Summer Olympics primetime coverage on Monday.
Mosier has acknowledged that his status as a trans trailblazer in the world of U.S. national sports may help others to know they can achieve similar goals.
“I’m going to keep busting my ass to get on the podium – and hopefully that makes it better for other people,” he said. “I want to be the person I needed 10 years ago.”
