Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality

Sports columnist Matt Calkins has resigned from The Seattle Times after nearly a decade with the publication, citing editorial decisions that he claims prevented him from addressing contentious issues related to gender and sports. The move follows the paper's refusal to publish a column in which Calkins defended the position that opposing biological males competing in women’s sports does not equate to being transphobic. Calkins announced his departure on Thursday, stating that the decision was entirely his own. However, he attributed it to the newspaper’s rejection of a column he had written based on interviews with two female student athletes who expressed concerns about competing against biological males. According to Calkins, this was among several articles he submitted that were either spiked or not published, leading him to believe he could no longer fulfill his role effectively as a columnist. The controversy surrounding Calkins' column began with an interview he conducted with 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, a student-athlete who had recently lost a track race to a biological male competitor. Wilson attended a WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and the Seattle Storm, holding a sign that read, “Thank You, Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!” The event took a tense turn when Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton reportedly confronted Wilson and another young supporter of Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who opposes biological males in women’s sports. Keaton allegedly called the girls “f***ing insane” and told Wilson, “I hope Jesus can forgive you,” prompting the teenager to break down in tears. As a result, the WNBA suspended Keaton from attending five home games and imposed a fine. This incident prompted Calkins to explore broader questions about how society views individuals who oppose the inclusion of biological males in women’s sports. He questioned why a teenage girl who supports keeping women’s sports separate from men’s should automatically be labeled as bigoted or hateful. Wilson clarified to Calkins that she did not harbor animosity toward transgender individuals, merely believing that girls should compete in their own sports. Similarly, another Washington student-athlete, Frances Staudt, shared with Calkins that she had endured verbal abuse at school after refusing to play against a biological male. Ultimately, Calkins published the column on his Substack platform under the title, “Agreeing with Sophie Cunningham’s stance doesn’t make you transphobic.” In the piece, he argued that the distinction between male and female sports is rooted in biological differences affecting athletic performance and that supporting this division does not inherently mean hostility toward transgender individuals. Despite this argument, The Seattle Times chose not to publish the article. Calkins claimed he submitted the column to his editor on July 31 and was informed shortly thereafter that it would not be published due to a procedural issue, namely, that he had not notified his editor in advance of writing the piece. Calkins dismissed this explanation, noting that if the issue had been solely about prior notification, the column would have been rejected outright rather than reviewed by multiple editors over several days. According to Calkins, the dispute over this particular column was part of a larger pattern. He cited other instances where The Seattle Times had rejected articles that questioned prevailing narratives, including critiques of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s equal pay lawsuit, discussions on cancel culture in sports, and defense of a Black high school basketball coach who advised against stereotyping law enforcement following the death of George Floyd. Calkins emphasized that he viewed it as a columnist’s responsibility to engage with controversial subjects and generate meaningful discourse. He stated that avoiding these topics left readers without the information they needed to form their own opinions. After reflecting on his inability to perform his duties as he saw fit, Calkins decided to resign from The Seattle Times.