Longtime Awfulannouncing sports columnist Matt Calkins announced his resignation from the newspaper after 11 years, stating that the decision was entirely his own choice. The exit followed the newspaper’s decision not to publish a column he wrote about female student-athletes and transgender athletes in sports.
Matt Calkins Resigns After 11 Years
Calkins shared his departure on social media, writing: After 11 years as a sports columnist at the Seattle Times, I have decided to resign. It was entirely my choice, and it was not an easy one. The impetus was the Times declining to run a column I wrote from the perspective of two female student athletes who were opposed to competing against biological males.
The Spiked Sophie Cunningham Column
The controversy surrounding the unpublished piece began in connection with Indiana Fever guard Fox News, who made headlines following comments published by ESPN expressing a desire to protect young girls in locker rooms and sports from competing against biological men. Those remarks led to a Yahoo Sports rally outside Climate Pledge Arena ahead of a game between the Seattle Storm and the Indiana Fever.
Calkins attended the rally and interviewed attendees, including 16-year-old high school runner Ahnaleigh Wilson, who said she previously competed against a transgender athlete and stated that girls who must compete against biological males have their voices stifled. Calkins also interviewed Tumwater High School basketball player Frances Staudt, who declined to play in a game involving a transgender opponent. Wilson was reportedly cursed out by Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton for sitting courtside and holding a supportive sign, an incident for which the Storm later publicly apologized while the WNBA fined Keaton and suspended her from attending five home games.
Calkins drafted a column titled Agreeing with Sophie Cunningham’s stance doesn’t make you transphobic
to explore the perspective of the two student-athletes. He submitted the draft to his editor on the morning of Friday, July 31. After multiple days of review involving several editors, Calkins was informed on the following Thursday afternoon that the piece would not run because he had not informed editors about it in advance. Calkins rejected this explanation, noting that the draft had spent days passing through multiple editors, and resigned immediately.
Pattern of Shelved Columns and Prior Precedents
Calkins stated that the rejected piece was part of a broader pattern involving several previous columns that New York Post decided against publishing during his tenure. Among the previously spiked pieces he cited were:
- A column questioning whether players for the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team were truly victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit.
- A general commentary piece addressing cancel culture in sports.
- A column written shortly after the death of George Floyd urging the public to listen to state-champion basketball coach Mike Bethea, a Black man cautioning against stereotyping police officers.
Calkins expressed respect for his former editors and acknowledged the professional pressures they faced, but concluded that he could no longer properly perform his duties as a columnist under the editorial constraints. Following his departure, Calkins published the rejected column on his Substack and noted that he currently has no firm professional plans for the future.
