{"id":422,"date":"2026-08-21T17:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2026-08-21T17:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:09:46","slug":"seattle-times-columnist-resigns-after-editors-spike-essay-defending-fairness-in-womens-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"<i>Seattle Times<\/i> Columnist Resigns After Editors Spike Essay Defending Fairness in Women\u2019s Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>A sports columnist has resigned from the <\/span><i><span>Seattle Times<\/span><\/i><span>, saying his editors refused to run an essay in which he argued that believing boys and men should not compete in girls and women\u2019s sports does not make a person transphobic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=420\">Scientist Behind Wuhan Bat Research Thanked Fauci Aide for Helping Shut Down Lab-Leak Theory<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Matt Calkins published the column in its entirety on his Substack on Thursday, alongside a separate post explaining his decision to resign. The\u00a0<em>Times\u00a0<\/em>has not publicly addressed Calkins\u2019s claims and did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI really wanted the column to run,\u201d he writes. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it would, but I felt obligated to try to get it in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He explains that he wrote the column after speaking to people attending a rally in support of Sophie Cunningham, the Indiana Fever guard who has said she supports keeping boys and men out of girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports. A few dozen people showed up outside Climate Pledge Arena to show their support for Cunningham before the Fever played the Seattle Storm last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I\u2019m like, \u2018I never once said that,\u2019\u201d Cunningham previously told <\/span><span>ESPN<\/span><span>. \u201cI think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn\u2019t have to go against biological men.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Calkins titled his column, \u201cAgreeing with Sophie Cunningham\u2019s stance doesn\u2019t make you transphobic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He said he felt compelled to weigh in after meeting a 16-year-old who had lost a track and field race to a male student in eighth grade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to write something at that point, but after she allegedly got cussed out by a Storm co-owner during the game, I felt like I had to weigh in,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the column, Calkins argued that, \u201cTwo things can be true at once. 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?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=418\">U.K. Government Issues Guidance Warning Asylum Seekers Not to Rape or Perform Female Genital Mutilation<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s not due to the potential awkwardness of physical contact,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s because men have higher testosterone levels and different skeletal and muscular frames, which together produce significant performance advantages. This isn\u2019t something I bring up at dinner parties, but it\u2019s undeniable. By every measurable metric in sports \u2014 whether it be 100-meter times, vertical leaps, weightlifting, yards off the tee, etc. \u2014 the top males substantially outperform the top females.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He says he filed the column after talking to his editor the morning of Friday, July 31. Later that day, the editor told Calkins he and other editors were looking at it. On Monday evening, Calkins says he received an email from the editor saying that his boss was hoping to talk to the top two newsroom editors about it on Wednesday. On Thursday, Calkins\u2019s editor informed him the piece would not run because he didn\u2019t tell him about it in advance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI didn\u2019t buy this reasoning,\u201d Calkins writes. \u201cIf that were the case, the piece would have been killed on the spot, not passed through the hands of multiple editors over several days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He decided to resign on the spot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThat may come off as an emotional decision, but it was exactly what I was prepared to do,\u201d he said, adding that the column on Cunningham was just one of several columns he wrote that had been \u201cspiked\u201d by the paper\u2019s editors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>One was a piece questioning whether players for the U.S. Women\u2019s Soccer Team were really the victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit,\u201d he writes. \u201cAnother was a more general column on cancel culture in sports. The last, written shortly after George Floyd\u2019s death, implored people to listen to state-champion basketball coach Mike Bethea \u2014 a black man urging the public not to stereotype cops.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He says the \u201ccommon theme\u201d among the censored columns is that they all \u201cchallenged prevailing newsroom narratives and likely would have triggered the outrage mob.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019ve always thought that it was a columnist\u2019s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues,\u201d he added. \u201cTo avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged. I guess in the end, I just didn\u2019t feel like I could do my job properly anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He says he plans to continue writing columns on his Substack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAll that\u2019s certain is that I\u2019m done holding back,\u201d he concludes. \u201cThe best things in life are free \u2014 speech being at the top of the list.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=416\">FBI Raids Eric Swalwell\u2019s Home, Seizes Electronics in Connection with Sexual Assault Investigation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The column was one of several that Calkins says were rejected because they cut against the prevailing political views in his newsroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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