The ongoing fight over transgender athletes playing women’s sports has apparently claimed another victim. Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins left the paper after editors reportedly rejected a piece about young activists opposed to biological males in spaces reserved for actual females, particularly in athletics.
Calkins announced his resignation Thursday in a now-viral post on Substack and told the New York Times that the editors at his former paper, where he had worked for 11 years, had spiked a number of his “against the grain” columns that sometimes take controversial stances. The latest rejected piece, which told the story of a pair of teenage girls accosted for their stance on keeping trans athletes out of women’s sports, was the final straw for the veteran sports writer.
“After 11 years as a sports columnist at the Seattle Times, I have decided to resign,” he posted on X. “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. It was one of several pieces of mine that had been spiked, and I no longer felt like I could properly do my job as a columnist.”
What story did the Times allegedly spike?
The column the Times reportedly rejected covered a recent controversy in Seattle surrounding the now-viral comments by WBNA Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham last month in which she said biological men should be kept out of women’s sports.
When pressed on the issue, she doubled down. “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said July 22, according to The Athletic. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
Six days later, when the Fever were facing the Seattle Storm in the Emerald City, a few dozen people gathered outside Climate Pledge Arena to support Cunningham and tout support for a Washington state ballot initiative that would prevent trans students from playing in girls’ athletics, ESPN reported.
During the game, two teenage girls sat courtside wearing XX-XY Athletics gear and holding signs thanking Cunningham for taking a stance.
The girls were called bigots and accosted by fans and Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton, who hurled expletives at them, according to witnesses. The WNBA later suspended and fined Keaton for her actions.
One of those girls, Ahnaleigh Wilson, was a subject of Calkin’s spiked column, which he has since posted to his Substack account. His piece told the story of a young female athlete who saw something to celebrate in Cunningham’s remarks and was encouraged to continue to take a stand herself.
“Some people saw bigotry. I saw bravery,” Calkins wrote. “I saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.”
“About 90 minutes before the Storm played the Fever last Tuesday, 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson stood at a rally outside Climate Pledge Arena wearing an XX-XY Athletics shirt while holding a sign reading ‘Thank You Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!'” he continued, noting, “There were no slurs hurled. No malice detected. It was just Wilson, an Eastmont High student in East Wenatchee, demonstrating what some have trouble accepting: that agreeing with Cunningham’s position does not make you transphobic.”
“Two things can be true at once,” Calkins stated. “You can show compassion for people who feel trapped in the wrong body while acknowledging they have a biological advantage. After all, why do we separate males and females in sports in the first place?”
According to Calkins’ report, Wilson began speaking about the issue after she got second place in the mile at a Junior Olympics track meet in 2024, bested only by a trans athlete.
His piece went on to detail several instances where female athletes were beaten by male competitors and the repeated accusations of bigotry supporters of women face in today’s culture.
Calkins’ writeup also included the story of 17-year-old Frances Staudt, who has been harassed for more than a year after she refused to play basketball against a biological male and voiced opposition to having a male in her locker room.
Staudt took to social media to thank Calkins.
“I was one of the female athletes you interviewed, and I truly appreciate the way you treated me,” she wrote on X. “You were fair, listened to my story without judgment, and wanted to share my experience—even when The Seattle Times refused to let it be heard.”
“Thank you, Matt, for having the guts it takes and standing by your principles, refusing to participate in this censorship, and giving female athletes a voice,” Staudt concluded.
In a video interview posted by Fox News, he said, “Let’s have an honest conversation about this, and let me get these girls’ voices out there because I feel if you look at most media, the girls who have to compete against the biological males, I feel like their voices get stifled a lot. So I wanted to get theirs out there.”
Has the Times covered trans athletes in sports?
Calkins says his piece was killed because he “challenged prevailing newsroom narratives and likely would have triggered the outrage mob.”
The Times is no stranger to the topic of trans athletes beating women in competition. But the paper reports largely from one direction—praise for the men who call themselves women and little to say for the women who lose out.
For example, in 2024, the Times posted a glowing piece about trans runner Veronica Garcia, who took a state championship from a true female athlete. The paper published another favorable piece when Garcia repeated as champion in 2025.
Staudt had a message for Calkin’s former employer:
“The Seattle Times deserves to be called out. It has become a left-wing rag that suppresses stories and viewpoints that challenge its preferred political narrative. Even at 17, I can see eerie similarities to what we’ve learned in history class about communism, censorship, and the control of information.
“To think that a 17-year-old female athlete and her story could be considered a threat to a powerful media machine like The Seattle Times shows that we have them against the ropes. We need to keep punching.
“I won’t quit.”
Thus far the paper has not commented on Calkins’ resignation or his accusations, according the New York Times.
