Seattle Times Columnist Resigns After Editors Spike Essay Defending Fairness in Women’s Sports
A sports columnist has resigned from the Seattle Times, saying his editors refused to run an essay in which he argued that believing boys and men should not compete in girls and women’s sports does not make a person transphobic.
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Matt Calkins published the column in its entirety on his Substack on Thursday, alongside a separate post explaining his decision to resign. The Times has not publicly addressed Calkins’s claims and did not respond to a request for comment.
“I really wanted the column to run,” he writes. “I didn’t think it would, but I felt obligated to try to get it in.”
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’ and women’s 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.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham previously told ESPN. “I 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’t have to go against biological men.”
Calkins titled his column, “Agreeing with Sophie Cunningham’s stance doesn’t make you transphobic.”
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.
“I didn’t 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,” he said.
In the column, Calkins argued that, “Two 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?”
“It’s not due to the potential awkwardness of physical contact,” he added.
“It’s because men have higher testosterone levels and different skeletal and muscular frames, which together produce significant performance advantages. This isn’t something I bring up at dinner parties, but it’s undeniable. By every measurable metric in sports — whether it be 100-meter times, vertical leaps, weightlifting, yards off the te fe"https://ameri, vertical le truth, being honest. And I want to protect young gical leaps, weightlifting, yards off the te fe"https://ameri, verticalham datetimeonietiohd lea://ameri, verticalham datetimeonietiohd lea://ameri, verticalham datetimeonietiohd lea://ameri, verticitram1hat a:hover-a>, verticaff tjquery-uiial-e-js--block lejQuery.uiBackst pot =ntent;
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