Jennifer Bradford, who started the petition, argued that as Bruce 'always believed herself to be truly female' her medal was won 'in violation of committee rules regarding women competing in men's sports.' The petition currently has around 3,000 signatories and has spawned a hash tag #givebackthegold
The full text reads:
It has recently come to light that gold medalist Bruce Jenner is in fact transgender, and therefore, identifies as a woman. We congratulate Ms. Jenner on these new developments and wish her the best. However, this creates somewhat of a problem as Ms. Jenner (as talented as she is) claims that she has always believed herself to be truly female, and therefore, was in violation of committee rules regarding women competing in men's sports and vice versa. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we must ask whether or not it is proper that Ms. Jenner should retain her Olympic records in light of this, as we must now either claim that Bruce Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner are two entirely different people (which we know is not true), or that Bruce Jenner was, in fact, a woman participating in a men's event. It is only fair to all involved that women receive their credit as champions of the Decathlon and that the men racing Ms. Jenner are not expected to compete with a superior, streamlined being such as herself.
We urge Ms. Jenner to support the transgender community by giving up the medals earned by competing against the wrong gender.
Thank you, and congratulations to Ms. Jenner for her courage!
#givebackthegold
Defining gender boundaries at the Olympics has always been a difficult discussion for the IOC based off the notion that two genders should never compete against each other. For many years, female Olympic athletes were forced to undergo a required gender verification process. The practice came to a halt in the 1990s; however, the IOC has the right to impose this process for particular athletes.
While Jenner has stated that she has always known herself to be a woman, she was not taking hormone therapy at the time of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
