Seattle Times columnist resigns after column on women's sports is rejected
Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins resigned after the paper refused to publish his column on two student-athletes who oppose transgender girls competing in female sports. Calkins said the decision followed a pattern of editors spiking columns that challenged prevailing views on the issue.
Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins resigned Thursday after claiming the newspaper refused to publish a column he wrote about two Washington student-athletes who oppose allowing transgender girls to compete in female sports. Calkins, who spent eleven years at the outlet, said the decision left him unable to perform the job he was hired to do.
The rejected column focused on Ahnaleigh Wilson, a 16-year-old high school runner, and Frances Staudt, a Tumwater High School basketball player, both of whom have spoken publicly about their experiences competing against transgender athletes. Calkins said he wanted to give these young women a platform to share their perspectives, arguing that supporting sex-separated athletic competition does not necessarily reflect hostility toward transgender people.
“I tried to write a column through the eyes of two student athletes who were kind of speaking out against biological males in girls/women's sports,” Calkins told Fox News Digital. He submitted the piece to his editors roughly two weeks ago, but after six days of deliberation, the paper decided not to run it. “All they said was that, ‘You didn't tell us you were doing this in advance, so we can't run it.’ But I didn't buy the excuse.”
Calkins said the rejection was not an isolated incident. “Anytime I would kind of go against the grain, my columns would get spiked,” he said. He emphasized that he respects his former editors and understands the pressure they face when deciding whether to publish commentary on divisive subjects, but he ultimately concluded that concern about public backlash had increasingly limited the range of opinions he was able to explore.
“I couldn't do my job as a columnist because I feel like they were stifling my voice,” he said. The Seattle Times has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The controversy that inspired Calkins's column began before a July 28 game between the Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever at Climate Pledge Arena. Calkins attended a rally supporting Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has spoken against transgender women participating in women's sports. At the rally, he interviewed Wilson, who said she had previously competed against a transgender athlete. He also later interviewed Staudt, who had declined to play in a game involving a transgender opponent.
Wilson subsequently alleged that Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted her inside the arena and used profanity while criticizing her support for Cunningham. The Storm publicly apologized for the encounter, and the WNBA fined Keaton and suspended her from attending five home games.
The dispute comes as Washington voters prepare to consider Initiative IL26-638 in November. The proposed measure would require schools to prohibit students it defines as biologically male from competing in certain athletic activities reserved for female students. It would also require healthcare-provider verification of a student's biological sex for participation in those activities. Supporters describe the measure as a protection for fairness and safety in girls' sports, while opponents argue that it would discriminate against transgender students and create invasive eligibility requirements.
That wider political debate formed the backdrop to Calkins's column, but his resignation raises a separate question about editorial discretion and the latitude afforded to newspaper columnists. Calkins said he had no firm professional plans when he resigned. He intends to continue writing independently while considering what comes next. He has since published the rejected column on his Substack.
“I love to keep writing. I love sports. I love to be able to speak my mind,” he said. “Hopefully I can stay in that realm.”
