Petition
Is It Time to Put Greg Louganis on a Wheaties Box?
A petition asking General Mills to put Olympic diver Greg Louganis on a Wheaties Box is growing fast following an outpouring of support on social media and a New York Times story published over the weekend. Almost 3,000 people added a signature to the petition in the last few days, and over 8,000 people have signed the petition since the creation of it a few weeks ago.
Julie Sondgerath started the petition on Change.org after she learned from the HBO documentary Back on Board that Louganis had been excluded from an opportunity to grace the cover of the Wheaties Box because he didn’t match General Mills’ 1980’s vision of a “wholesome demographic.”
The New York Times story reports:
Homophobia would seem to be the only reason that Louganis was denied the simple cereal-box accolade. He says so in the documentary, even if the filmmakers could not present anyone from General Mills who would agree. A spokesman for the cereal-maker said that nobody from that period was left to discuss the decision-making.
Sondgerath said she wants to “right the wrong” by putting Greg on the cover of the Wheaties Box:
Greg was diving’s superstar and Swimming World named him ‘The Greatest Diver Ever.’ At the time, General Mills explained Louganis did not meet their ‘wholesome demographics’ to grace the cover of the famed coveted Wheaties box. Greg Louganis deserves (still) to be on the cover of the Wheaties box. And with marriage equality passing in June of 2015, what a great way to pay it forward to Greg and all of his accomplishments.
Greg Louganis shared the petition on Twitter after hearing from Julie:
This is so sweet, Julie Sondgerath, what a sweet gesture. I am humbled and honored by so much support of such a… http://t.co/XH9buZnfhU
— Gregory Louganis (@greglouganis) August 23, 2015
The producers of the HBO documentary Back On Board, GLAAD, and former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova have helped spread the word:
Lets make things right & finally put @greglouganis on @wheaties box! Sign this petition: http://t.co/vmF08jAx3A
— Back on Board Doc (@LouganisDoc) August 7, 2015
Make waves @GeneralMills. Give the greatest diver of all time the respect he deserves. #GetGregWheaties @greglouganis http://t.co/ZLYSPNFJ61
— GLAAD (@glaad) August 20, 2015
Movement Builds to Honor Greg Louganis on a Wheaties Box, – no doubt about the reason for this omission… http://t.co/Z0VQuyXnUx
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) August 22, 2015
HIV Plus Magazine even shared a Wheaties Box design:
Sign this petition to #GetGregWheaties box he deserves: http://t.co/GTA5Me9wHu @greglouganis @generalmills pic.twitter.com/w0UQ5beZvf
— HIV Plus Magazine (@HIVPlusMag) August 20, 2015
If you would like to support Julie’s petition, you can sign it here.